HSP90: An Emerging Molecular Target for Improvement of Nanoparticle Based Magnetic Hyperthermia Therapy

Hyperthermia, as a combinatorial mode of therapy, holds a great promise to improve the efficacy of chemo- and radiotherapy with substantial gain in the overall survival and quality of life of cancer patients. The major challenge of hyperthermia underlies in the inefficient heating, thermo-resistance and associated adverse side effects. Compared to conventional modalities, the emerging modes of hyperthermia like high intensity focused ultra-sound (HIFU) and microwave have overcome the heating challenges up to some extent. Magnetic hyperthermia therapy (MHT) is another potential modality, where under external magnetic field conditions, tumor delivered with magnetic nanoparticles could be effectively heated internally without a temperature gradient and minimal side effects. However, the success of hyperthermia therapy (HT) is dictated by careful and precise planning of HT, as clinical outcome is greatly affected by the induction of thermo-tolerance. After heat stress, heat shock proteins (HSP) have been known to play pivotal role in induction of tumor thermo-tolerance through regulation of machinery involved in protein folding, transport, translocation and assembly. Out of six classes of HSPs, HSP90 is the most interesting class playing a central role in many aspects of cancer pathogenesis. Present book chapter sheds light on the structure and role of HSP90 especially in the context of magnetic nanoparticles with relevance to evaluation of ability of HSP90 to be used as a prospective molecular target for improvement of MHT.