title: The effect of induced hyperthermia on the immune system.
abstract: Therapeutical hyperthermia has been considered for cancer therapy since William Coley observed tumour remission after induction of fever by bacterial toxins at the end of the 19th century. Because fever is associated with a variety of immunological reactions, it has been suspected, that therapeutical hyperthermia might also activate the immune system in a reproducible manner and thereby positively influence the course of the disease. During the last decade, new insight has been gained regarding the immunological changes taking place during therapeutic hyperthermia. In this chapter, we review the most relevant data known about the effect of hyperthermia on the immune system with special focus on alterations induced by therapeutical whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) in cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Hematology, Charité Campus Mitte, University Medicine Berlin, Germany, Schumannstrasse 20/21, D-10117 Berlin, Germany. annette.dieing@charite.de
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dieing
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ahlers
authors.forename: Bert
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hildebrandt
authors.forename: Thoralf
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kerner
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tamm
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Possinger
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wust
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced / Q000379:methods*; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy