Esophageal cancer is a malignant tumor of the digestive system that has a high incidence in China. The traditional treatment methods include surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, but the long-term efficacy is not good and the side effects are obvious. As a traditional physical therapy, hyperthermia has no significant toxic and side effects. Studies have shown that hyperthermia can increase the sensitivity of esophageal cancer to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and its combined use in the treatment of esophageal cancer can prolong the survival and improve the quality of life. In addition, the innovation of materials and technologies brings new breakthroughs to tumor hyperthermia.

Objective:To initially investigate whether simultaneous radiochemotherapy with hyperthermia can prolong the survival of glioblastoma (GBM) patients.Methods:Clinical data of 61 GBM patients undergoing surgery in our hospital from September 2016 to June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. According to different treatment methods, all patients were divided into the control group ( n=34) and observation group ( n=27). In the control group, three-dimensional radiotherapy with a dose of 60 Gy combined with temoazolamine chemotherapy was delivered. In the observation group, simultaneous radiochemotherapy with 15-20 cycles of hyperthermia at 40-41℃ was supplemented. The survival time was calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, and the survival time was compared with log-rank test between two groups. Results:The median progression-free survival in the observation group was significantly longer than that in the control group (14.33 months vs.9.94 months, P<0.05). The median overall survival in the observation group was also remarkably higher than that in the control group (18 months vs. 14 months, P<0.05). Conclusions:Simultaneous radiochemotherapy with hyperthermia is innovatively applied to treat GBM after surgical resection. Preliminary findings demonstrate that compared with chemoradiotherapy, simultaneous radiochemotherapy with hyperthermia can prolong the survival time of GBM patients.

Objective:To evaluate the effect of hyperthermia on the apoptosis and the expression levels of cysteine-containing aspartate-specific protease-3 (Caspase-3) and phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-AKT) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma cells.Methods:A prospective study was conducted on 30 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma who were treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from October, 2021 to October, 2022. Three times of hyperthermia were performed with a time interval of 24 h. The tumor tissue samples were collected from 30 patients before and after hyperthermia and divided into before hyperthermia group (group A ) and after hyperthermia group (group B). Self-control study mode was adopted for comrparative analysis. The cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL assay. The expression levels of Caspase-3 and p-AKT in the tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. Positive cell ratio and immunohistochemistry (IHC) score were recorded. Comparison between two groups was performed by paired t-test. The correlation between the degree of apoptosis and the changes of Caspase-3 and p-AKT molecules was assessed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results:No evident adverse reactions were observed in 30 patients after hyperthermia. The apoptosis index of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma cells in group A was 2.37%±1.33%, and 4.27%±3.93% in group B ( P=0.006). In group A, the ratio of Caspase-3 positive cells in tumor tissues was 62.31%±19.49% and 80.79%±17.15% in group B ( P=0.001). The ratio of p-AKT positive cells in group A was 31.26%±19.30%, and 26.26%±15.86% in group B ( P=0.023). There was a positive correlation between the degree of apoptosis and the changes of Caspase-3 molecule ( r=0.544, P=0.002), but a negative correlation was noted between the degree of apoptosis and the changes of p-AKT molecule ( r=-0.434, P=0.017). Conclusion:Hyperthermia can promote the apoptosis of tumor cells in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, which may be related to Caspase-3 dependent apoptosis, and the inhibition of AKT phosphorylation is also involved in this process.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is one of the highest morbidity and mortality in the world and it is very important to find an effective anti-tumor method. Microwave hyperthermia, a new treatment technology, has been getting more and more attention. This study was designed to investigate the effects of microwave hyperthermia combined with gemcitabine on the proliferation and apoptosis of human lung squamous cell carcinoma (NCI-H1703 and NCI-H2170) in vitro. METHODS: The proliferation of cells treated with microwave hyperthermia, the effect of gemcitabine on cell proliferation and the proliferation of cells treated with different methods of microwave hyperthermia and gemcitabine were detected by CCK-8 assay. Colony formation assay was used to measure the colony formation of human lung squamous cell carcinoma cells. Flow cytometry assay was used to detect the total apoptosis rates of the treated cells. Caspase-3, Caspase-8 activity assay was used to detect the activity of Caspase-3, Caspase-8 enzyme in each group of cells. CCK-8 assay was used to detect the effect of control group, AC-DEVD (Caspase-3 inhibitor) group, thermalization combined group, and thermal AC-DEVD combined group on cell proliferation. The levels of p53, Caspase-3, Cleaved-Caspase-3, PARP, Bax and BCL-2 protein expression were detected using Western blot assay. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that microwave hyperthermia inhibited the proliferation of lung squamous cell carcinoma. The IC₅₀ values of gemcitabine for the two cells were 8.89 μmol/L and 44.18 μmol/L, respectively. The first chemotherapy after microwave hyperthermia has synergistic effect on the two lung squamous cell carcinoma cells and can significantly inhibit the cell clone formation (P<0.001), promote cell apoptosis (P<0.001) and increase Caspase-3 enzyme activity (P<0.001). However, it has no effect on Caspase-8 enzyme activity (P>0.05). Furthermore, Western blot analysis showed that microwave hyperthermia combined with gemcitabine could up-regulate the p53, Caspase-3, Cleaved-Caspase-3, Cleaved-PARP and Bax protein expression. CONCLUSIONS Microwave hyperthermia combined with gemcitabine remarkably inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis of human lung squamous cell carcinoma in vitro. This effect may be associated with the activation of p53, cleavage of PARP protein, and induced the Caspase-3 dependent apoptosis.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; radiation effects ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; pathology ; Caspase 3 ; metabolism ; Caspase 8 ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; radiation effects ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Deoxycytidine ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; Lung Neoplasms ; pathology ; Microwaves

Objective To investigate the influence of enteral nutrition on body weight,nutritional status,treatment toxicities,and short-term outcomes in esophageal carcinoma patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy(CCRT). Methods Eligible esophageal carcinoma patients were randomly assigned(2:1) to receive either CCRT combined with enteral nutrition (study group) or CCRT alone (control group). The primary endpoint was changes in the body weight during and after radiotherapy. The secondary endpoints were nutrition-related hematological parameters,the toxicities of chemoradiotherapy,the completion rate of treatment,and short-term outcomes. The differences was using χ2 or t-test. Results Between September 2014 and June 2017,203 patients were included in the study,consisting of 139 patients in the study group and 64 patients in the control group. Compared with the control group,the study group had significantly less body weight loss during and after radiotherapy (P<0.05) and significantly less decreases in serum albumin and hemoglobin (P<0.05),but there was no significant difference in the reduction in total lymphocyte count between the two groups (P>0.05).The study group had significantly lower incidence rates of grade ≥3 myelosuppression and infection and a significantly higher completion rate of chemoradiotherapy compared with the control group (P<0.05).The incidence of radiation pneumonitis and esophagitis showed no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05).The study group had an insignificantly higher objective response rate than the control group (P>0.05). Conclusions For esophageal carcinoma patients treated with CCRT,enteral nutrition can reduce body weight loss during and after radiotherapy,improve nutritional status and treatment tolerance,and reduce toxicities.