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Yagawa et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2017;3:218-30 Journal of
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2017.35
Cancer Metastasis and Treatment

www.jcmtjournal.com
Topic: Cancer Immunotherapy Open Access

Cancer immunity and therapy using

hyperthermia with immunotherapy,

radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery

Yohsuke Yagawa , Keishi Tanigawa , Yasunobu Kobayashi , Masakazu Yamamoto 2
1
1
1,2
1 Bio-Thera Clinic, Tokyo 1600022, Japan.
2 Department of Surgery, Institute of Gastroenterology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, Tokyo 1628666, Japan.
Correspondence to: Dr. Keishi Tanigawa, Bio-Thera Clinic, 5-6-12 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 1600022, Japan. E-mail: tanigawa@bio-c.jp

How to cite this article: Yagawa Y, Tanigawa K, Kobayashi Y, Yamamoto M. Cancer immunity and therapy using hyperthermia with immunotherapy,
radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2017;3:218-30.

ABSTRACT
Article history: Hyperthermia is a type of medical modality for cancer treatment using the biological effect
Received: 23 May 2017 of artificially induced heat. Even though the intrinsic effects of elevated body temperature
Accepted: 5 Jul 2017 in cancer tissues are poorly understood, increasing the temperature of the body has been
Published: 31 Oct 2017 recognized as a popular therapeutic method for tumorous lesions as well as infectious diseases
since ancient times. Recently accumulated evidence has shown that hyperthermia amplifies
Key words: immune responses in the body against cancer while decreasing the immune suppression and
Hyperthermia, immune escape of cancer. It also shows that hyperthermia inhibits the repair of damaged
cancer immunity, cancer cells after chemotherapy or radiotherapy. These perceptions indicate that hyperthermia
chemosensitizer, has potential for cancer therapy in conjunction with immunotherapy, chemotherapy,
radiosensitizer, radiotherapy, and surgery. Paradoxically, the anticancer effect of hyperthermia alone has
combination cancer therapy, not yet been adequately exploited because deep heating techniques and devices to aggregate
hyperthermic intraoperative heat effects only in cancer tissues are difficult in practical terms. This review article focuses
peritoneal chemotherapy on the current understanding concerning cancer immunity and involvement of hyperthermia
and the innate and adoptive immune system. The potential for combination therapy with
hyperthermia and chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery is also discussed.

INTRODUCTION cancer are due to its distinctive abilities for immune
escape, metastasis, and tolerance to cancer therapies.
Cancer is one of the most fatal diseases in the world, These abilities result from the heterogeneity of cancer
inducing various conditions such as organ disorders cells and the anticancer efficacy of conventional
[1]
from primary lesions or metastatic lesions and cachexia. treatment methods has limitations. Recent progress
Three standard therapeutic methods include surgery, has been made in cancer immunotherapy, a fourth
chemotherapy, and radiotherapy; however, these are cancer therapeutic method, including activated T-cell
not satisfactory on the whole. Difficulties in treating therapy and dendritic cell (DC) vaccines; however,

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