Effect of Hyperthermia on Liver Cell Lines: Important Findings for Thermal Therapy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fifth most common malignant tumour, with a high mortality rate. This study aimed to investigate the effect of hyperthermia on HepG2 and LX-1 cell lines to gain more information on thermal treatment of liver tumours. Materials and Methods: The cell lines HepG2, LX-1 and their co- cultures were heated from 55˚C to 85˚C for different time spans. After heat exposure, metabolic activity was measured immediately, and after 24 h and 48 h using the 3-(4,5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4- sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium) (MTS) test to assess how many cells had survived heating. Results: Our results show highly significant differences between the temperature tolerance of HepG2 and LX-1 cells. Alone, HepG2 cells are most sensitive to heat-induced cell death, their sensitivity decreased with rising percentages of LX-1 cells in the co-culture. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the outcome of thermal cancer therapy is dependent on the temperature and the grade of fibrosis in the treated livers.