The evolution and structure of biomedical knowledge on cytochrome P450

TL;DR

This study uses text mining and network analysis to map the historical development and community structure of biomedical research on cytochrome P450 proteins, revealing how research communities evolved around key methodological advances.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining text mining and network analysis to study the evolution of biomedical research communities on P450 proteins.

Findings

Research communities organized around methodological achievements

Identification of key milestones in P450 research history

Evidence of P450 research as a material scientific culture

Abstract

Cytochrome P450 are fundamental proteins to the metabolism of drugs and other relevant processes. through a combination of text mining and network analysis of the P450 literature we mapped the emergence and evolution of the biomedical research communities working on this family of proteins. Our results suggest that the historical research communities that worked on P450 emerged and were organized mainly around methodological achievements like the induction of animal liver microsomal P450 by drugs, the use of chemical inhibitors of P450 enzymes in in-vitro metabolism studies and the development of E. coli expression systems. We found clear evidence that P450 research indeed constitutes a material scientific culture, as we discuss in the text.