抄録
Temperature elevation to 42°C to 45°C can lethally damage bacterial and mammalian cells. Recently, clinical interest in hyperthermia as a cancer treatment modality has prompted many in vitro and in vivo basic science studies designed to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the antitumor effect of exposure to elevated temperatures. Mechanisms for thermal damage are not clear, although effects on the cell membrane and nucleus occur in association with heat exposure. In recent years it has become clear that lipid peroxidation due to free radicals is involved in a variety of different types of cell injury and that the effective use of cell injury can be applied to cancer therapy. We used a rabbit model to investigate the role of various radical scavengers and the degree of lipid peroxidation in the tumor tissue during the antitumor effect of hyperthermia.
These observations suggest that injury to the cell membrane and intracellular organelle membrane due to lipid peroxidation may be involved in the antitumor effect of hyperthermia. The objectives of this review are, first, to discuss some of the roles of reactive oxygen species in pathopysiological conditions; and, second, to summarize results from animal experiments that lipid peroxidation mediated by reactive oxygen species plays an important role in the antitumor effect of hyperthermia.
