Research Landscape of the Role of Exosomes in Diabetic Wound Management: Bibliometric Perspective

Abstract

Diabetic wounds significantly present clinical difficulties on account of high prevalence, recurrence rates, and substantial health care burden. Traditional treatment approaches to these wounds remain suboptimal, emphasizing the urgent demand for new therapeutic strategies. As an emerging therapeutic modality, exosomes (Exos) have garnered increasing attention for their prospect for diabetic wound healing (DWH). Nevertheless, in this domain, a systematic bibliometric analysis of research trends remains insufficient. In this study, we retrieved 441 publications on Exos-based diabetic wound treatment from 2005 to 2024 from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Bibliometric tools comprising CiteSpace and VOSviewer were employed for visualization and bibliometric analysis, including publication trends, national and institutional contributions, author collaboration networks, and keyword co-occurrence patterns. In this domain, the quantity of publications has shown a stable upward trend, with China leading in research output (77.3%), before the United States (12.2%) and India (4.3%). Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed that research hotspots primarily focus upon the effect of Exos in inflammation modulation and angiogenesis. Notably, integrating Exos with hydrogels has emerged as a key research frontier, presenting a prospective strategy for DWH through sustained Exos release and targeted delivery of therapeutic agents. This study systematically mapped the global research landscape of Exos-based treatments for DWH, clarifying the critical role of Exos in wound recovery and emphasizing the potential of Exos-loaded hydrogels as a future research direction. These findings provided valuable insights into both fundamental research and clinical practices, contributing to the progress in diabetic wound management.

Impact Statement

This is a systematic bibliometric analysis on research trends in using exosomes (Exos) as a prospective emerging therapeutic modality in diabetic wound healing (DWH). The analysis systematically mapped the global research landscape of Exos-based treatments for DWH, elucidating the pivotal role of Exos in wound recovery while emphasizing the potential of Exos-loaded hydrogels as a future research direction. These findings provided valuable insights into both fundamental research and clinical practices, contributing to advancements in diabetic wound management.