Cancer is thought to be heat-sensitive, and research on hyperthermia therapy for cancer has been investigated. We have previously reported that some cancer cells survive under heat stress, i.e., there are thermo-resistant cancer cells (Hatakeyama H, et al. Cell Rep, 2016).

We focused on necrosis, which is cell death accompanied by plasma membrane disruption, and found that differences in the fluidity of the plasma membrane when heat is applied affect the cell death. We found that the depletion of cholesterol, a lipid molecule that regulates membrane fluidity, sensitized cancer cells to hyperthermia.

We conducted photothermal therapy (PTT) using gold nanorods and near-Infrared light (NIR) at the tumor site of tumor-bearing mice. Combined with cholesterol depletion, we succeeded in significantly enhancing the therapeutic effect of PTT. Based on these findings, the development of effective cancer hyperthermia is expected to progress.

This study was published in Sci Rep and introduced the following website. This study was done by Dr. Taisei Kanamori. The gold nanorods that used in this study was developed by Professor Takuro Niidome at Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University.

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