The Temperature-Dependent Effectiveness of Platinum-Based Drugs Mitomycin-C and 5-FU during Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) in Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines

Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) followed by hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is a treatment with curative intent for peritoneal metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Currently, there is no standardized HIPEC protocol: choice of drug, perfusate temperature, and duration of treatment vary per institute. We investigated the temperature-dependent effectiveness of drugs often used in HIPEC. Methods: The effect of temperature on drug uptake, DNA damage, apoptosis, cell cycle distribution, and cell growth were assessed using the temperature-dependent IC50 and Thermal Enhancement Ratio (TER) values of the chemotherapeutic drugs cisplatin, oxaliplatin, carboplatin, mitomycin-C (MMC), and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on 2D and 3D CRC cell cultures at clinically relevant hyperthermic conditions (38–43 °C/60 min). Results: Hyperthermia alone decreased cell viability and clonogenicity of all cell lines. Treatment with platinum-based drugs and MMC resulted in G2-arrest. Platinum-based drugs display a temperature-dependent synergy with heat, with increased drug uptake, DNA damage, and apoptosis at elevated temperatures. Apoptotic levels increased after treatment with MMC or 5-FU, without a synergy with heat. Conclusion: Our in vitro results demonstrate that a 60-min exposure of platinum-based drugs and MMC are effective in treating 2D and 3D CRC cell cultures, where platinum-based drugs require hyperthermia (>41 °C) to augment effectivity, suggesting that they are, in principle, suitable for HIPEC.