Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Immunology

Immune cells in cancer

Immune cells in cancer is a research topic within Immunology. Science Explorer counts 39k research works in it since 1951. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the diverse aspects of macrophage activation and polarization, including their role in tumor microenvironments, interaction with myeloid-derived suppressor cells, modulation of immune responses, and metabolic regulation. The papers cover topics such as monocyte and macrophage heterogeneity, tissue-resident macrophages, and the impact of macrophage plasticity on health and disease.

  • Macrophage
  • Activation
  • Polarization
  • Tumor-associated
  • Monocytes
  • Myeloid-derived suppressor cells
  • Inflammation
  • Metabolism
  • Cancer
  • Immunity
Research works
39k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
3.8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+54%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
56% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Immune cells in cancer

Which countries lead Immune cells in cancer research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (7.3k and 3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 7.3k works
  2. 2 United States 3k works
  3. 3 Germany 539 works
  4. 4 Japan 446 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 344 works
  6. 6 South Korea 323 works
  7. 7 Italy 313 works
  8. 8 France 278 works
  9. 9 India 268 works
  10. 10 Canada 224 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 56.0%United States: 23.1%Germany: 4.1%Japan: 3.4%6 others listed: 13.4%56%largest
China7,301 · 56.0%United States3,006 · 23.1%Germany539 · 4.1%Japan446 · 3.4%6 others listed1,749 · 13.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Immune cells in cancer research?

By volume in 2022-now, Sun Yat-sen University publishes the most Immune cells in cancer research, followed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Harvard University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 249 works
  2. 2 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 218 works
  3. 3 Harvard UniversityUnited States 159 works
  4. 4 Fudan UniversityChina 156 works
  5. 5 Nanjing Medical UniversityChina 154 works
  6. 6 Sichuan UniversityChina 150 works
  7. 7 Zhejiang UniversityChina 149 works
  8. 8 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 131 works
  9. 9 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 126 works
  10. 10 Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 126 works

Who are the leading researchers in Immune cells in cancer?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Immune cells in cancer include Rob Knight, Mark J. Daly and Stacey L. Gabriel.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 Mark J. Daly United States 403k citations
  3. 3 Stacey L. Gabriel United States 402k citations
  4. 4 Peer Bork Germany 396k citations
  5. 5 Robert John Tibshirani United States 396k citations
  6. 6 Guido Kroemer France 386k citations
  7. 7 Gad A. Getz United States 364k citations
  8. 8 Elaine R. Mardis United States 346k citations
  9. 9 Hermann Brenner Germany 343k citations
  10. 10 Shizuo Akira Japan 342k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Immune cells in cancer?

The most cited paper in Immune cells in cancer is "Integrated analysis of multimodal single-cell data" (Yuhan Hao et al., 2021), with 16,879 citations. Next come "Inflammation and cancer" (15,251) and "Cancer-related inflammation" (11,477).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Integrated analysis of multimodal single-cell data Yuhan Hao et al. · Cell Open access 31 May 2021 16,879
2 Inflammation and cancer Lisa M. Coussens, Zena Werb · Nature Open access Dec 2002 15,251
3 Cancer-related inflammation Alberto Mantovani, Paola Allavena, Antonio Sica et al. · Nature Open access Jul 2008 11,477
4 Immunity, Inflammation, and Cancer Sergei I. Grivennikov, Florian R. Greten, Michael Karin · Cell Open access Mar 2010 10,888
5 Exploring the full spectrum of macrophage activation David M. Mosser, Justin P. Edwards · Nature reviews. Immunology ReviewOpen access 25 Nov 2008 9,246
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Immune cells in cancer research done?

The largest centres of Immune cells in cancer research in 2022-now are Shanghai (China), Beijing (China), Guangzhou (China) and Nanjing (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Luzhou, Shatin and Zunyi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ShanghaiChina 714 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 687 works
  3. 3 GuangzhouChina 597 works
  4. 4 NanjingChina 353 works
  5. 5 WuhanChina 301 works
  6. 6 HangzhouChina 300 works
  7. 7 ChengduChina 231 works
  8. 8 ChongqingChina 206 works
  9. 9 JinanChina 204 works
  10. 10 ChangshaChina 192 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LuzhouCN · 41.6 works11×
  2. ShatinCN · 31.5 works9.4×
  3. ZunyiCN · 24.2 works7.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Immune cells in cancer than the world average.

See Immune cells in cancer on the map

Where is the best place to study Immune cells in cancer?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Sun Yat-sen University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 15.77%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Harvard UniversitySichuan UniversityShanghai Jiao Tong U…Sun Yat-sen University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 76.216.3%3.8×159 +17.0%
2Sun Yat-sen UniversityChina 70.913.1%9.2×249 +119.3%
3Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 68.313.3%5.8×218 +114.8%
4Sichuan UniversityChina 68.115.9%5.1×150 +140.3%
5Zhejiang UniversityChina 65.413.9%4.2×149 +88.1%
6Southern Medical UniversityChina 65.415.1%14.6×118 +141.0%
7Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical CollegeChina 64.714.0%9.1×126 +123.1%
8Weizmann Institute of ScienceIsrael 63.825.7%5.9×11 +8.1%
9Fudan UniversityChina 63.711.6%7.6×156 +112.5%
10University of MacauChina 62.618.8%4.0×17 +151.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Immune cells in cancer, country by country

Is Immune cells in cancer research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 54% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Immune cells in cancer.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Immune cells in cancer as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.057% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Immune cells in cancer0.066% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Immune cells in cancer over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Immune cells in cancer9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Immune cells in cancer. Posts are plain text and can be reported.