Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41132667›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in immunology2025

Oncolytic virus therapy in the elderly: immune frailty, challenges, and perspectives.

Jia-Wen Wang, Jia-Hui Liu, Yue-Lin Liu, Wen-Zheng Xu, Zi-Bo Zhang

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in immunology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Jia-Wen Wang *Department of Orthopedics, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
Jia-Hui Liu *Department of Orthopedics, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
Yue-Lin LiuThe Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
Wen-Zheng XuHebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.
Zi-Bo ZhangDepartment of Orthopedics, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

With global aging accelerating, cancer incidence among older adults is rapidly increasing. Individuals aged ≥65 years now represent 64% of new cancer cases and 71.3% of cancer-related deaths worldwide. This population exhibits a distinct immune imbalance-driven by tumor-induced immunosuppression, immunosenescence, and inflammaging-which contributes to poor tolerance of standard therapies and suboptimal outcomes with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. As an emerging immunotherapeutic strategy, oncolytic viruses (OVs) selectively infect tumor cells, induce immunogenic cell death (ICD), and activate the cGAS-STING pathway. Although clinical data in elderly patients with esophageal, lung, or pancreatic cancer are scarce, promising outcomes have been reported in melanoma/sarcoma subgroups, including objective response rates of 26.4-32.9% and a median duration of response of 33.7 months, highlighting the potent antitumor potential of OVs. However, age-related immunological vulnerability-manifesting across different frailty stages as reflected by G8 scoring-may predispose elderly patients to immune overload, cytokine storm, and impaired tolerance, while this group remains underrepresented in OV trials. Systematic studies in this context are lacking. This review highlights the immunological characteristics of aging, emphasizes the importance of addressing immunological vulnerability across different age stages (G8 scoring), and outlines emerging challenges and future directions for OV-based therapies tailored to frail elderly populations.

Indexed as

AgingFrailtyNeoplasmsOncolytic VirotherapyOncolytic VirusesAgedAnimalsHumansImmunosenescencecytokine release syndromeelderly cancer patientsimmune frailtyimmunosenescenceinflammagingoncolytic virus therapy

Identifiers

PMID41132667
PMCPMC12540392

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.