Responses of Immune System to Hyperthermia

Abstract

The evidence of time dependent, heat induced impairment of immune functions is unequivocal from in vitro studies. While earlier investigations at moderately elevated temperatures led researchers to postulate that in the clinical set-up hyperthermia might in fact stimulate the immune system. the growing number of studies at more relevant temperatures provide no support for this concept. For review of the temperatures see Skeen et al, 1986. Since the importance of immune reactions in tumor control after hyperthermia has been firmly established in immunodeficient mice (Alfieri et al, 1981) the relevance of in vitro data to the situation in inpatients undergoing hyperthermia remains to be determined. The clinical situation is obviously more complex and it has proven in the past to be difficult to correlate patients immunological parameters with clinical outcome in cancer patients.