The future of biology in driving the field of hyperthermia

In 2011 Hanahan and Weinberg updated their well-established paper 'The hallmarks of cancer'. The rationale for that review and its predecessor was to produce a conceptual framework for future research in cancer. The original Hallmarks included: cell signalling to enhance tumour cell proliferation, acquisition of ability to evade growth suppressors, developing mechanisms to resist cell death, enabling replicative immortality, initiating angiogenesis and activating processes to enable invasion and metastasis. In the more recent paper, Hanahan and Weinberg added important new features to this composite paradigm. The new features were: (1) altered metabolism, (2) evasion of immune destruction, (3) tumour promoting inflammation, and (4) the cellular microenvironment. These four new features are the main focus of this review. Hanahan and Weinberg did not specifically include the physiological microenvironment which is dominated by hypoxia and acidosis. In this review we will consider these features in addition to the cellular and metabolic components of the microenvironment. The purpose of this review is to present a vision of emerging fields of study in hyperthermia biology over the next decade and beyond. As such, we are focusing our attention on pre-clinical studies, primarily using mice. The application of hyperthermia in human patients has been thoroughly reviewed elsewhere.