Mapping the research landscape of nanotechnology based immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

Advances in nanotechnology have introduced novel methodologies for immunotherapy targeting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aims to develop a knowledge map and identify potential research hotspots in this field through bibliometric analysis. Publications on HCC immunotherapy utilizing nanotechnology from 2005 to 2024 were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Data visualization and statistical analysis were primarily conducted using VOSviewer, CiteSpace, R software, and Microsoft Office Excel 2021. The systematic search initially retrieved 600 publications from WoSCC, of which 10 were excluded during screening, yielding 590 publications on nanotechnology applications in HCC immunotherapy. Notably, the annual publication count surged from 44 papers in 2020 to 159 papers in 2024, representing an impressive 261% increase over this four-year period. China emerged as the foremost country in publishing volume and international collaborations, although its articles receive relatively few average citations. The USA, ranking second in output, achieves the highest average citation count. The timeline visualization of reference reveals three distinct phases (2005–2009, 2010–2018, and 2019–2024) with the following seven reference clusters: #0 cancer chitosan nanoparticle, #1 hepatocellular carcinoma, #2 antigen presentation, #3 carbon nanotube, #4 targeting PD-L1 expression, #5 natural killer cell, and #6 liver metastases. “Cancer microenvironment”, “drug delivery”, “immunogenic cell death”, and “combination therapy” showed extremely high occurrence frequencies. “mRNA”, “mRNA delivery”, “metabolism” were the key keywords that have emerged recently. Nanotechnology-based immunotherapy field has evolved from foundational nanoparticle development (2005–2009) to immune microenvironment modulation (2010–2018) and now embraces mRNA-based precision immunotherapy (2019–2024). Future efforts may prioritize combinatorial nano-immunotherapies integrating metabolic regulation and AI-optimized delivery.