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Effects of mobile phone radiation on breast adenocarcinoma cells
| Author：Barend A. Stander Date：2012-5-15 15:02:25 |
Effects of mobile phone radiation on breast adenocarcinoma cells
Mobile phones form an integral part of the daily life of billions of users worldwide and this number is ever-increasing. Because mobile phone emits mobile phone radiation the low energy electromagnetic fields (EMF), concerns have been raised as to whether exposure to non-ionising electromagnetic radiation in this radio frequency range can modify biological material, leading to possible adverse health effects.
In spite of previous in vitro and in vivo studies on the infiuence of mobile phone radiation on cell proliferation, cell differentiation, apoptosis induction, phosphorylation and changes in global gene expression, several questions still remain because of study limitations and confiicting results. Leszczynski et al." studied the activation of heat shock protein (HSP) 27 after 1 h exposure of EA.hy926 human endothelial cells to 900 megahertz (MHz) non-thermal mobile phone radiation." They observed an increase in the phosphorylation levels of HSP27, mediated by the p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway, which was also found to be transiently activated in sponse to radio frequency (RF)-EMF exposure." Data suggested that the p38MAPK/HSP27 stress response pathway was induced as a result of RF-EMF exposure at non-thermal power levels."
In another study, the influence of 1 h of 900-MHz 2.4-W/kg specific absorption rate (SAR) exposure was investigated on EA.hy926 cells.' Protein expression levels of vimentin, which plays a role in cytoskeleton rearrangement, were statistically significantly affected. A 1-h exposure of EA.hy926 and EA.hy926vl to 900-MHz 2.8-W/kg SAR and the effects of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz at 0.77 W/kg SAR on various immortalised and primary cells lines also demonstrated that the respon.se is cell line specific. Different cell lines show diverse sensitivity levels to low level stimulus. Merola et al." investigated the influence of 900-MHz radiation at 1 W/kg SAR at a maximum exposure time of 72 h on cell proliferation, cell differentiation and apoptosis in a neuroblastt)ma cell line (LAN-5) and no significant changes were observed. No statistically significant variation
was observed in gene expression profiles after exposure of U87MG glioblastoma cells and C3H lOTl/2 mouse cells to RF-EMF.''"' A 2-h exposure of leukocytes to 900 MHz between 0.3 W/kg and 1.0 W/kg SAR, as well as lymphocyte exposure to 935 MHz at either 1 W/kg or 2 W/kg SAR for 24 h, also revealed no genotoxic effects.
Yu et al.'^ reported no significant differences in the formation of mammary tumours and the proliferation thereof in female Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were exposed to 900-MHz global system for mobile communications (GSM) radiation at SAR levels of 4.0 W/kg, 1.33 W/kg, 0.44 W/kg and 0 W/kg for 4 h per day, 5 days per week for a duration of 26 weeks.Thus, because of the conflicting results reported and because epidemiological studies lack the necessary sensitivity to detect minor effects of mobile phone radiation, the need for a new approach in this field was proposed. Because low level EMF radiation may cause subtle physiological changes, the need for sensitive high-throughput screening techniques exists in order to more accurately measure the effects of EMFradiation on human tissue. In vitro data can rapidly increase the knowledge pool regarding the influence of mobile phone use on human health and supplement epidemiological studies. The aim of. this in vitro study was to determine the influence of non-thermal 900-MHz mobile phone radiafion on metabolic activity, cell morphology, cell cycle progression,phosphatidylserine (PS) externalisation and reactive oxygen species and nitrogen species generation in the MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma cell line.
To as.sess the physiological effects of radiation from mobile phones in vitro, MCF-7breast adenocarcinoma cells were exposed to 2W/kg non-thermal 900-MHz mobile phone radiation. The effects investigated were those on metabolic activity, cell morphology, cell cycle progression, phosphatidylserine (PS) externalisation and the generation of reactive
oxygen species and nitrogen species. Statistically insignificant increases in mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity were observed in irradiated cells when compared to controls.Fluorescent detection of F-actin demonstrated an increase in F-actin stress fibre formation in irradiated MCF-7 cells. Cell cycle progression revealed no statistically significant variatii)n. A small increase in early and late apoptotic events in irradiated MCF-7 cells was observed. species generation. In addition, quantitative and qualitative analyses of cell cycle activity and nuclear and cytosolic changes, respectively, revealed no significant changes. In conclusion, exposure to 1 h of 900-MHz irradiation induced an increase in PS externalisation and an increase in the formation of F-actin stress fibres in MCF-7 cells. Data obtained from this study, and their correlation with other studies, provides intriguing links between radio frequency radiation and cellular events and warrant further investigation.
© 2011.
Authors:
Barend A. Stander'
Sumari Marais'
Carin Huyser'
Zen Fourie'
Dariusz Leszczynski''
Annie M. Joubert' |
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