Hyperthermia Reduces Irradiation-Induced Tumor Repopulation in an In Vivo Pancreatic Carcinoma Model

Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis due to its aggressive nature and ability to metastasize at an early stage. Currently, its management is still a challenge because this neoplasm is resistant to conventional treatment approaches, among which is chemo-radiotherapy (CRT), due to the abundant stromal compartment involved in the mechanism of hypoxia. Hyperthermia, among other effects, counteracts hypoxia by promoting blood perfusion and thereby can enhance the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy (RT). Therefore, the establishment of integrated treatments would be a promising strategy for the management of pancreatic carcinoma. Here, the effects of joint radiotherapy/hyperthermia (RT/HT) on optimized chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) pancreatic tumor models are investigated. This model enables a thorough assessment of the tumor-arresting effect of the combined approach as well as the quantitative evaluation of hypoxia and cell cycle-associated mechanisms by both gene expression analysis and histology. The analysis of the lower CAM allows to investigate the variation of the metastatic behaviors of the cancer cells associated with the treatments. Overall, this study provides a potentially effective combined strategy for the non-invasive management of pancreatic carcinoma.