Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy enhances antitumor effects on ovarian cancer through immune-mediated cancer stem cell targeting.

We demonstrated that the superior therapeutic efficacy and reduced proportion of CSCs associated with intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy were immune-related. Hyperthermia recruits the phagocytes that target surviving CSCs after chemotherapy. These results provide a novel mechanism for the efficacy of HIPEC in treating ovarian cancer.