The oncoprotective fever hypothesis: Have antibiotics, antimalarials and antipyrectics contributed to the global rise in cancer over the past century?

S Braude; J Varghese

doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110720

The oncoprotective fever hypothesis: Have antibiotics, antimalarials and antipyrectics contributed to the global rise in cancer over the past century?

Med Hypotheses. 2021 Oct 26:158:110720. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110720. Online ahead of print.

Authors

S Braude¹, J Varghese²

Affiliations

¹ SB Washington University, JV Cleveland Clinic, USA. Electronic address: braude@wustl.edu.
² SB Washington University, JV Cleveland Clinic, USA.

PMID: 34753009
DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2021.110720

Abstract

The adaptive and therapeutic nature of fever has been recognized for centuries and both local and systemic thermotherapy are now used to enhance the effectiveness of both chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer. We propose that the success of antiseptic, antibiotic, antipyretic and antimalarial strategies and medications over the past century and a half may have had the unintended effect of releasing precancerous growths and neoplastic foci from the inhibitory effects of intermittent fever. This may be a previously unrecognized factor in the overall rise in cancer rates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Keywords: Antibiotic; Antipyretic; Cancer; Fever; Malaria; Thermotherapy.