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Fever as a cancer cure

My online article 'Miraculous' Cures? discusses various mechanisms that may explain spontaneous cures of cancer that are sometimes attributed to divine intervention. One of these is modification of the immune response by means of fever. This is an old idea that is now attracting renewed attention.

A cell biologist, Uwe Hobohm, believes it is time to revive the idea. Fever therapy was used successfully to treat cancer in the nineteenth century. Hobohm discusses the immunological basis for the treatment in New Scientist ('Hot, toxic and healing': 4 January 2014). Hobohm and his colleagues are currently testing the hypothesis in mice at two research centres in Germany. This is fascinating, although, as he says, we are a long way away from having this treatment approved for human patients.

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