OBJECTIVE:

To synthesise the findings of articles that studied the application of viruses in the treatment of human breast cancer.

METHODOLOGY:

Bibliographic search of articles registered in PubMed, without the use of filters, carried out in November 2019 with the terms: oncolytic virus in breast cancer. The selected articles were grouped in tables according to the type of virus. Data were obtained on the first author, year of publication, vector and main conclusions.

RESULTS:

With the search terms, 271 publications were found. Of these, 128 were excluded in the screening by title and abstract, 31 of them because they were review articles. Although there was no language restriction, one article in Chinese and six whose main objective was the study of canine breast cancer were excluded. The other exclusions were made because they were not associated with the subject under review. Among the 143 articles that were selected for full reading, 17 of them were also excluded as not relevant for the purpose of this review and one because it was a short communication.

CONCLUSIONS:

The selected data on viruses for the treatment of breast cancer patients comes almost entirely from preclinical research with responses favoring the experimental action of oncoviruses. In clinical research studies, results are still scarce, but hint at their potential for development, especially in combination with oncoviruses or other therapeutic agents.