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Hyperthermia and Human Leukocyte Functions: DNA, RNA, and Total Protein Synthesis after Exposure to <41° or >42.5° Hyperthermia¹

Departments of Medicine [N. J. R., S. M. M.] and Radiation Biology and Biophysics [S-T. L., S. M. M.), University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York 14642

Hyperthermia is being used clinically in the treatment of neoplasms, and mononuclear leukocytes are commonly present in a heated tumor or in surrounding tissues. Therefore, we examined the effects of exposure of human mononuclear leukocytes to <41° or >42.5° hyperthermia for 2 h. The ability of the cells to exclude dyes, used as a measurement of leukocyte viability, was not altered by such exposures. Exposure of the cells to <41° hyperthermia generally did not alter unstimulated or mitogen-stimulated DNA, RNA, or total protein synthesis. In contrast, exposure to >42.5° hyperthermia resulted in decreased unstimulated RNA and total protein synthesis, as well as delayed synthesis of DNA, RNA, and total protein in response to stimulation with the optimal concentration of mitogen and decreased synthesis in response to suboptimal concentrations of mitogen.

¹ Supported in part by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (R806390 and CR808039), the U. S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine and Aeronautical Systems Division (F33615-81-R-0616), the U. S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR-80-0111), and the National Institutes of Health (AI 15547).

This work was presented in part at the 22nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Miami Beach, FL, 1982.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Infectious Diseases Unit, Box MED, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY 14642.

Received 11/18/83. Revised 4/ 3/85. Accepted 4/ 8/85.