'Design of optimal hyperthermia protocols for prostate cancer by controlling HSP expression through computer modeling.'

摘要

Heat shock proteins (HSP) are critical components of a complex defense mechanism essential for preservingrncell survival under adverse environmental conditions. It is inevitable that hyperthermia will enhance tumor tissuernviability, due to HSP expression in regions where temperatures are insufficient to coagulate proteins, and would likelyrnincrease the probability of cancer recurrence. Although hyperthermia therapy is commonly used in conjunction withrnradiotherapy, chemotherapy, and gene therapy to increase therapeutic effectiveness, the efficacy of these therapies can bernsubstantially hindered due to HSP expression when hyperthermia is applied prior to these procedures. Therefore, inrnplanning hyperthermia protocols, prediction of the HSP response of the tumor must be incorporated into the treatmentrnplan to optimize the thermal dose delivery and permit prediction of overall tissue response. In this paper, we present arnhighly accurate, adaptive, finite element tumor model capable of predicting the HSP expression distribution and tissuerndamage region based on measured cellular data when hyperthermia protocols are specified. Cubic spline representationsrnof HSP27 and HSP70, and Arrhenius damage models were integrated into the finite element model to enable predictionrnof the HSP expression and damage distribution in the tissue following laser heating. Application of the model can enablernoptimized treatment planning by controlling of the tissue response to therapy based on accurate prediction of the HSPrnexpression and cell damage distribution.