Effects of Hyperthermia on the Host Immune System :

From NK Cell-based Science to Clinical Application

Abstract

Hyperthermia has been known to enhance the host immune responses against cancer through several mechanisms. One of the mechanisms is sensitization of cancer cells to natural killer (NK) cells through enhancement of NK cell-activating ligands on cancer cells. However, NK cell number and cytotoxicity in patients with cancer is often low. Therefore, NK cell-based adoptive immune cell therapy can be applied for cancer patients after hyperthermia. In this paper, we discuss these findings from our data. Moreover, we present the clinical usefulness of combining hyperthermia, immune cell therapy, and low-dose chemotherapy as palliative treatment for advanced stages of cancer, which are refractory to conventional therapy in the context of NK cell-mediated immune responses.