Microthermia
Multiscale investigation of hyperthermia for new additive tumor treatment strategies – Microthermia
Hyperthermia using high-frequency electromagnetic radiation is becoming increasingly important in tumor therapy. The aim of the project is to investigate the insufficiently known interactions between electromagnetic radiation and tumor cells by combining physical, biological/immunological-medical and process engineering methods in the laboratory scale and by simulations for future therapy optimization.
Until now, hyperthermia as a local heating mean is still investigated for only few tumor entities. There are various forms of application for hyperthermia, but the underlying mechanisms of action, and thus biological and clinical consequences are not sufficiently understood. The objective of this project was to investigate possible differences between conventional, i.e. warm-water based, and microwave-based ex-vivo heating of tumor cells, and to analyze interactions between electrognetic radiation at various frequencies and cell-related macromolcules or cells, respectively. Especially, biological and immunological actions of those different types of applications were investigated in order to develop future recommendations for multimodal tumor therapy. The results shall help to improve hyperthermia treatment and increase its acceptance for innovative cancer treatment.
To sum up, those methods and applications systems developed during this project allow investigating the effects of hyperthermia for various tumor cell types in a wide parameter range. The mean of heating and the dynamic expression of immun-relevant checkpoint molecules are two main results of our investigations. Further, the frequency of microwave radiation determines not only the penetration depth into tissue but also the immunogenic phenotype and type of cell death. For example, higher death rates were achieved with 2.45 GHz compared to 915 MHz or 100 MHz. In addition, we found that a 30-minute treatment at 44 °C is as effective regarding cell inactivation as 60 minues. Combining hyperthemia and radiotherapy shows a dynamic modulation of immun-suppressive and immun-stimulatory molecules. Therefore, we recommend in future (pre-)clinical studies to include the tumor entity besides the heating means in order to optimize multimodal cancer treatment.
Project Profile
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Duration: 01.09.2017 - 30.11.2020 Funding: Bavarian Research Foundation Project Partners: |
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| Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thorsten Gerdes, Dr.-Ing. Andreas Rosin, Michael Hader | |
Related Links
Project description at the Bavarian Research Foundation (in German)