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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Cancer Drug Sensitization In Vitro and In Vivo
Published on: February 6, 2015
The evaluation of thermal cisplatin sensitization in normal and XP human cells using mild hyperthermia at 40 and 41
1Medical Physics, The Ottawa Hospital Regional Cancer Centre, 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L6, Canada. graaphorst@ottawahospital.on.ca
Abstract:
The effect of protracted mild hyperthermia treatment at 40 and 41 degrees C given, concurrently with cisplatin, was evaluated in human normal AG1522 and human mutant XPA cells. While mild hyperthermia itself for up to 6 hours showed little to no toxic effects, it did result in significant sensitization of response to cisplatin treatment. Sensitization for the normal and mutant cell line was comparable, indicating that nucleotide excision repair (NER) probably does not have a role in this process. For the 41 degrees C heating, thermotolerance developed and heating times greater than 4 hours resulted in protective effects from cisplatin cytotoxicity. This was not observed for heating at 40 degrees C for up to 6 hours.

