TITLE:
Oncological Hyperthermia: Where to Go from Here?
AUTHORS:
Andras Szasz
KEYWORDS:
Thermal, Nonthermal, Modulated Electrohyperthermia, Selection of Tumor Cells, Tumor-Specific Immune Activity, Abscopal Effect
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Biophysics,
Vol.14 No.4,
September
2,
2024
ABSTRACT: Oncological hyperthermia is one of the most versatile forms of oncotherapy. It can complement every conventional treatment method and be applied to any tumorous cancer, irrespective of its stages and localization. Numerous technical realizations are conventionally compared by their thermal effect, measured by temperature. However, nonthermal (mainly electric) excitation effects are more recognized nowadays. The technical variants alter the synergy between thermal and nonthermal energy components. Nonthermal energy absorption-induced molecular mechanisms include essential behaviors like selectivity and immunogenicity. The nonthermal electromagnetic effects excite molecular changes, intracellular signals, gene expressions, and many other chemical reactions. Their synergy with thermal conditions is based on the Arrhenius law, which describes the rapid growth of chemical reactions with temperature. A unique technical realization of hyperthermia, modulated electrohyperthermia (mEHT) tries to optimize the thermal and nonthermal effects. The results look very perspective, containing the high accuracy of targeting the tumor cells, the immunogenic cell death, and the activation of tumor-specific immune reactions restoring the healthy immune surveillance to destroy the cancer.