Effect of 13.56 MHz radiofrequency hyperthermia on mitotic cell cycle arrest in MCF7 breast cancer cell line and suggest a time interval for radiotherapy

Abstract

After surgery, radiotherapy is the most common technique to treat breast cancer. Over the past decades, the thermal effects of radiofrequency-wave hyperthermia combined with radiotherapy have been used to increase radiosensitivity in cancer treatment. The cells have various radiation and thermal sensitivities at different stages of the mitotic cycle. Furthermore, ionizing radiation and the thermal effect of hyperthermia affect the cells' mitotic cycle and can partly induce cell cycle arrest. However, the time interval between hyperthermia and radiotherapy, as an essential factor influencing hyperthermia effect on cancer cells' cycle arrest, has not been studied before. In this study, we investigated the effect of hyperthermia on the MCF7 cancer cell cycle arrest in mitotic cycles at various selected time intervals after hyperthermia to find and propose appropriate time intervals between hyperthermia and radiotherapy. In this experimental study, we used the MCF7 breast cancer cell line to investigate the effect of 13.56 MHz hyperthermia (at a temperature of 43°C for a period of 20 min) on their cell cycle arrest. We performed the flowcytometry assay to assess the changes in the mitotic phases of the cell population at different time intervals (1, 6, 24, and 48 h) after hyperthermia. Our flowcytometry results indicated the 24-h time interval has the most significant effect on the cell population at S and G2/M phases. Therefore, the 24-h time interval can be proposed as the most appropriate time after hyperthermia for carrying out combinational radiotherapy procedure. Among various investigated time intervals examined in our research, the 24-h time interval can be proposed as the most appropriate time between hyperthermia and radiotherapy for combinational therapy of breast cancer cells.