Liposomes versus metallic nanostructures: differences in the process of knowledge translation in cancer

TL;DR

This study compares how knowledge translation differs between liposomes and metallic nanostructures in cancer treatment, revealing organized translation mainly in liposomal drugs and basic research focus in metallic nanostructures.

Contribution

It provides a structural analysis of citation networks and text mining to map knowledge translation processes for these nanotechnologies in cancer.

Findings

Liposomes show organized knowledge translation in pharmacology, especially liposomal doxorubicin.

Metallic nanostructures research is mainly basic, focusing on imaging and photothermal therapy.

Subnetwork analysis reveals different therapeutic strategy associations for liposomes versus metallic nanostructures.

Abstract

This research maps the knowledge translation process for two different types of nanotechnologies applied to cancer: liposomes and metallic nanostructures (MNs). We performed a structural analysis of citation networks and text mining supported in controlled vocabularies. In the case of liposomes, our results identify subnetworks (invisible colleges) associated with different therapeutic strategies: nanopharmacology, hyperthermia, and gene therapy. Only in the pharmacological strategy was an organized knowledge translation process identified, which, however, is monopolized by the liposomal doxorubicins. In the case of MNs, subnetworks are not differentiated by the type of therapeutic strategy, and the content of the documents is still basic research. Research on MNs is highly focused on developing a combination of molecular imaging and photothermal therapy.