ReviewCureus2026
A Decade of Oncolytic Virotherapy in Pediatric Cancers: A Systematic Review of Safety, Immune Awakening, and Emerging Efficacy.
Review in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Oncolytic virotherapy employs genetically modified viruses to selectively lyse tumor cells while activating antitumor immune responses. In pediatric oncology, where outcomes for high-grade gliomas and refractory solid tumors remain poor, oncolytic viruses represent a promising therapeutic strategy. A systematic review was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines, including searches of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and ClinicalTrials.gov for studies published between 2015 and 2025 that evaluated oncolytic virotherapy in patients aged 18 years or younger. Data on safety, efficacy, and immune-related outcomes were extracted, study quality was assessed using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies - of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool, and the certainty of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) framework. Ten early-phase clinical trials involving 115 pediatric patients met the inclusion criteria. Investigated viral platforms included herpes simplex virus type 1 (G207, HSV1716), adenovirus (DNX-2401, ICOVIR-5, Ad-TD-nsIL12), T-VEC (HSV-1), poliovirus (PVSRIPO), Seneca Valley virus, and reovirus. Across studies, no treatment-related deaths or persistent grade 3 or higher toxicities were reported, and adverse events were generally mild and transient. Radiologic or clinical disease control rates ranged from 20% to 90%, with median overall survival between 11 and 18 months in selected central nervous system tumor cohorts. Translational analyses demonstrated increased CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration, upregulation of interferon-γ and interleukin-6 signaling pathways, and evidence of transient viral replication, supporting immune-mediated antitumor mechanisms. Overall risk of bias was moderate, while the certainty of evidence was rated as low for safety outcomes and very low for efficacy. These findings indicate that oncolytic virotherapy is safe, feasible, and biologically active in children with malignant brain and solid tumors, and that preliminary survival signals and consistent immune activation support further investigation through larger, multicenter randomized trials and combination strategies with radiotherapy or immune checkpoint inhibitors.
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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.