Microcalorimetric study of the metabolism of U-937 cells undergoing apoptosis induced by the combined treatment of hyperthermia and chemotherapy

摘要

Hyperthermia is a useful adjunct in cancer therapy, as it can increase the effectiveness and decrease the toxicity of currently available cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation. In this study we determined the power-time curves of U-937 cell line treated by the combination of hyperthermia and Carmofur by using an LKB 2277 Bioactivity Monitor. The maximal thermal power and the heat production were used to evaluate the antitumor effect. Our results show that the combined treatment of hyperthermia and Carmofur had a synergistic antitumor effect, which is consistent with the apoptosis ratio obtained by TUNEL assay. The results also indicate that the metabolic activity of apoptotic cells is lower than that of normal cells. Thus microcalorimetry is a powerful tool in fields of hyperthermia.