“The warmer region of the pelvis made the nuclear matrix in the cells
that make sperm unstable and prone to death,” says Theodore DeWeese,
M.D., professor and director of the Department of Radiation Oncology and
Molecular Radiation Sciences.
“Heat is at the center of many cellular changes,” according to Donald
Coffey, Ph.D., who is the Catherine Iola & J. Smith Michael
Distinguished Professor of Urology, Oncology, Pathology, and
Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins. “It drives
everything from reproduction to fighting infection, and now we’d like to
harness its power to fight cancer.”
Scientists in the past have observed that fevers accompanying infections
sometimes improved the outcome for some cancer patients, but until now,
Coffey said, “scientists haven’t connected precisely how heat affects
the scaffolding and might be one of the reasons treatment can cure
tumors such as Lance Armstrong’s.”
This could lead to treatments for other cancers as well, the researchers
speculate. Robert Getzenberg Ph.D. says “If we understand how heat may
naturally help kill testicular cancer cells, then perhaps we can make it
happen in other solid tumors. More than 80 percent of men with
widespread testicular cancer can achieve a cure. In other cancers, the
cure rate is far less.” Getzenberg is professor and director of urology
research at Johns Hopkins.
DeWeese added “Cancer cells already have unstable nuclear matrices. If
we give a cancer cell more heat to completely disrupt its matrix, and
then add toxic drugs and radiation, the cancer cell may be so disabled
that it won’t be able to replicate and will die.”
On a parallel track, the Hopkins group is looking at other temperature
targets for heat’s cancer-fighting properties that may work in tandem
with the nuclear matrix. For example, they are looking at blocking
proteins whose primary role is to act as fire blankets to coat the
nuclear matrix and preserve it from heat damage. These so-called “heat
shock proteins” also have a second role as “chaperones” to other
proteins, ensuring their proper interaction and shape, and, depending on
these interactions, may play a role in cancer-cell death.
Not all doctors agree with this though. Lance Armstrong’s doctor even
disputes the theory. Other skeptics include American Cancer Society's
Dr. Michael Thun, who called the idea "total speculation." But many
agree, more research should be done in this area. Their commentary
appears in the July 26 issue of the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Marsh Quinn
Writer
Books on Cancer
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