How heat can help treat cancer

Researchers have identified a switch in cells that may help to kill tumours with heat.

Prostate cancer and other localised tumours can be effectively treated by a combination of heat and an anti-cancer drug that damages the genes.

Behind this novel therapy is the enigmatic ability of heat to switch off essential survival mechanisms in human cells. Although thermotherapy is now more widely used, the underlying principles are still unclear.

The researchers at Bangor University based in the School of Biological Sciences report now that heat modulates these survival systems by promoting the production of a novel protein. Intriguingly, this protein is only produced when elevated temperatures activate a gene that hides inside another gene.

“The discovery is reminiscent of a Russian doll were a set of smaller wooden figures is placed inside a larger doll. The existence of such hidden genes may explain why the human genome has a much smaller number of genes than initially expected,” leader of the Genome Biology group, Dr Thomas Caspari said.

“Our work may also help to improve heat-treatment of cancer for the benefit of patients. This research success was a real team effort made possible by the generous funding from Cancer Research Wales and the European Leonardo DaVinci Programme,” he added

The study was recently published in the Journal of Cell Science.