Department of Biomedical Sciences and Institute for Medical Science, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Chonbuk, 54907, South Korea.
Deparment of Radiation oncology, Presbyterian Medical Center, Seonam University Medical School, Jeonju, Chonbuk, 54987, South Korea.
Sci Rep. 2018 Sep 10;8(1):13505. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-31232-9.
One of the main characteristics of cancer tissues is poor development of neovascularization that results in a limited blood circulation. Because of this phenomenon, it is harder for cancer tissues to diffuse their elevated heat into other parts of the body. The scientific principle of radiofrequency hyperthermia relies on this quality of cancer tissues which with higher temperature becomes more apparent. Despite the obvious necessity to selectively heat the cancer tissue for radiofrequency hyperthermia, a proper thermosensitizer has not been developed until now. Here, we show that transferrin containing ferric ion could be an ideal thermosensitizer for the increased efficiency of radiofrequency hyperthermia. In our result, the ferric ion-enriched cancer tissues dramatically react with 13.56 MHz radiofrequency wave to cause cancer-selective dielectric temperature increment. The overall anticancer efficacy of a 13.56 MHz radiofrequency hyperthermia using transferrin as a thermosensitizer was much higher than the oncotherapeutic efficacy of paclitaxel, successfully eradicating cancer in a tumor-xenografted mouse experiment.
癌症组织的一个主要特征是新生血管形成不良，导致血液循环受限。由于这种现象，癌症组织更难将其升高的热量扩散到身体的其他部位。射频热疗的科学原理就是利用了癌症组织的这一特性，随着温度的升高，这种特性表现得更为明显。尽管射频热疗需要有选择性地加热癌症组织，但到目前为止，还没有开发出合适的热增敏剂。在这里，我们表明，含有三价铁离子的转铁蛋白可以作为一种理想的热增敏剂，以提高射频热疗的效率。在我们的研究结果中，富含三价铁离子的癌症组织与 13.56MHz 射频波剧烈反应，导致癌症组织的介电温度升高具有选择性。在肿瘤异种移植小鼠实验中，使用转铁蛋白作为热增敏剂的 13.56MHz 射频热疗的整体抗癌疗效远高于紫杉醇的抗肿瘤疗效，成功地消除了癌症。
