The Protective Effects of EMF-LTE against DNA Double-Strand Break Damage In Vitro and In Vivo

Study of genotoxic and cytotoxic effects induced in human fibroblasts by exposure to pulsed and continuous 1.6 GHz radiofrequency

Background

The widespread use of radiofrequency (RF) sources, ranging from household appliances to telecommunications devices and military equipment, raises concerns among people and regulatory agencies about the potential health risks of RF exposure. Consequently, several in vitro and in vivo studies have been done to investigate the biological effects, in particular non-thermal, of this non-ionizing radiation. To date, this issue is still being debated due to the controversial results that have been reported. Furthermore, the impact of different RF signal modulations on biological systems remains poorly investigated. The present in vitro study aims to evaluate the cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of continuous or pulsed 1.6 GHz RF in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF).

Methods

HDF cultures were exposed to continuous and pulsed 1.6 GHz RF, for 2 h, with Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) of 0.4 W/kg. The potential biological effects of 1.6 GHz RF on HDF were assessed with a multi-methodological approach, analyzing the effects on cell cycle, ultrastructure, protein expression, mitotic spindle, CREST stained micronuclei, chromosome segregation and γ-H2AX/53BP1 foci.

Results

1.6 GHz RF exposure modified proteins expression and morphology of HDF. Specifically, the expression of different heat-shock proteins (HSP) (i.e., HSP-90, HSP-60, and HSP-25) and phospho-AKT were affected. In addition, both continuous and pulsed RF modified the cytoskeletal organization in HDF and increased the number of lysosomes, while the formation of autophagosomes was observed only after pulsed RF exposure. Mitotic spindle anomalies were also found after exposure. However, no significant effect was observed on cell cycle, chromosome segregation, CREST-stained micronuclei and γ-H2AX/53BP1 foci.

Conclusion

The results of the present study show the absence of genotoxic damage in 1.6 GHz RF exposed HDF and, although mitotic spindle alterations were observed, they did not have an aneugenic effect. On the other hand, changes in some proteins expression and cell ultrastructure in exposed HDF suggest that RF can potentially induce cell alterations at the morphological and molecular levels.

The effect of exposure to radiofrequency LTE signal and coexposure to mitomycin-C in Chinese hamster lung fibroblast V79 cells

This study aims to investigate the cellular effects of radiofrequency exposure, 1950 MHz, long-term evolution (LTE) signal, administered alone and in combination with mitomycin-C (MMC), a well-known cytotoxic agent. Chinese hamster lung fibroblast (V79) cells were exposed/sham exposed in a waveguide-based system under strictly controlled conditions of both electromagnetic and environmental parameters, at specific absorption rate (SAR) of 0.3 and 1.25 W/kg. Chromosomal damage (micronuclei formation), oxidative stress (reactive oxygen species [ROS] formation), and cell cycle progression were analyzed after exposure and coexposure. No differences between exposed samples and sham-controls were detected following radiofrequency exposure alone, for all the experimental conditions tested and biological endpoints investigated. When radiofrequency exposure was followed by MMC treatment, 3 h pre-exposure did not modify MMC-induced micronuclei. Pre-exposure of 20 h at 0.3 W/kg did not modify the number of micronuclei induced by MMC, while 1.25 W/kg resulted in a significant reduction of MMC-induced damage. Absence of effects was also detected when CW was used, at both SAR levels. MMC-induced ROS formation resulted significantly decreased at both SAR levels investigated, while cell proliferation and cell cycle progression were not affected by coexposures. The results here reported provide no evidence of direct effects of 1950 MHz, LTE signal. Moreover, they further support our previous findings on the capability of radiofrequency pre-exposure to induce protection from a subsequent toxic treatment, and the key role of the modulated signals and the experimental conditions adopted in eliciting the effect.

Comparison of pulsed and continuous electromagnetic field generated by WPT system on human dermal and neural cells

In recent decades, we have seen significant technical progress in the modern world, leading to the widespread use of telecommunications systems, electrical appliances, and wireless technologies. These devices generate electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and electromagnetic fields (EMF) most often in the extremely low frequency or radio-frequency range. Therefore, they were included in the group of environmental risk factors that affect the human body and health on a daily basis. In this study, we tested the effect of exposure EMF generated by a new prototype wireless charging system on four human cell lines (normal cell lines-HDFa, NHA; tumor cell lines-SH-SY5Y, T98G). We tested different operating parameters of the wireless power transfer (WPT) device (87-207 kHz, 1.01-1.05 kW, 1.3-1.7 mT) at different exposure times (pulsed 6 × 10 min; continuous 1 × 60 min). We observed the effect of EMF on cell morphology and cytoskeletal changes, cell viability and mitotic activity, cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and oxidative stress. The results of our study did not show any negative effect of the generated EMF on either normal cells or tumor cell lines. However, in order to be able to estimate the risk, further population and epidemiological studies are needed, which would reveal the clinical consequences of EMF impact.

Reduced FANCE Confers Genomic Instability and Malignant Behavior by Regulating Cell Cycle Progression in Endometrial Cancer

Introduction: Fanconi anemia complementation group E (FANCE) is a subunit of fanconi anemia (FA) pathway and plays a key role in repairing DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs) damage. We investigate detailed functions and mechanisms of FANCE in endometrial cancer (EC). Methods: FANCE protein and RNA expression in EC and non-cancerous tissues were detected by Western blotting (WB), immunohistochemistry (IHC), and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays. Using lentiviral transfection and siRNA interference techniques, we constructed overexpressing FANCE (OE-FANCE) and FANCE-knockdown (FANCE-KD) EC cells. We then investigated DNA damage repair capacity of FANCE in EC cells including comet assay and γH2AX immunofluorescence assay. In vitro assays including CCK8, EDU and colony formation for chemoresistance and proliferation, transwell assay for metastasis were performed. Flow cytometer assay, cell cycle synchronization for cell cycle progression and EC cells RNA sequencing were determined. Finally, in vivo mouse models were used to detect tumor growth. Results: We found FANCE RNA and protein expression was significantly decreased in endometrioid adenocarcinoma (EAC) compared with normal and atypical hyperplasia endometrium. FANCE promoted the repair of ICL damage and double-strand break (DSB) in OE-FANCE EC cells. Furthermore, FANCE increased drug resistance in OE-FANCE EC cells by upregulating FA pathway and homologous recombination (HR) associated proteins. FANCE inhibited cell proliferation and metastasis through G2/M cell cycle arrest in vitro and vivo. FANCE participated in regulating several pathways. Conclusion: The study demonstrates the reduction of FANCE expression leads to genomic instability, thereby promoting the development of EC by regulating cell cycle.

Photonics probing of pup brain tissue and molecular-specific nuclear nanostructure alterations due to fetal alcoholism via light scattering/localization approaches

SIGNIFICANCE

Light is a good probe for studying the nanoscale-level structural or molecular-specific structural properties of brain cells/tissue due to stress, alcohol, or any other abnormalities. Chronic alcoholism during pregnancy, i.e., fetal alcoholism, being teratogenic, results in fetal alcohol syndrome, and other neurological disorders. Understanding the nano-to-submicron scale spatial structural properties of pup brain cells/tissues using light/photonic probes could provide a plethora of information in understanding the effects of fetal alcoholism.

AIM

Using both light scattering and light localization techniques to probe alterations in nano- to-submicron scale mass density or refractive index fluctuations in brain cells/tissues of mice pups, exposed to fetal alcoholism.

APPROACH

We use the mesoscopic physics-based dual spectroscopic imaging techniques, partial wave spectroscopy (PWS) and molecular-specific inverse participation ratio (IPR) using confocal imaging, to quantify structural alterations in brain tissues and chromatin/histone in brain cells, respectively, in 60 days postnatal mice pup brain, exposed to fetal alcoholism.

RESULTS

The finer focusing PWS analysis on tissues shows an increase in the degree of structural disorder strength in the pup brain tissues. Furthermore, results of the molecular-specific light localization IPR technique show an increase in the degree of spatial molecular mass density structural disorder in DNA and a decrease in the degree in histone.

CONCLUSIONS

In particular, we characterize the spatial pup brain structures from the molecular to tissue levels and address the plausible reasons for such as mass density fluctuations in fetal alcoholism.

Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure and Apoptosis: A Scoping Review of In Vitro Studies on Mammalian Cells

In the last decades, experimental studies have been carried out to investigate the effects of radiofrequency (RF, 100 kHz–300 GHz) electromagnetic fields (EMF) exposure on the apoptotic process. As evidence-based critical evaluation of RF and apoptosis in vitro is lacking, we performed a scoping literature review with the aim of systematically mapping the research performed in this area and identifying gaps in knowledge. Eligible for inclusion were in vitro studies assessing apoptosis in mammalian cells exposed to RF-EMF, which met basic quality criteria (sham control, at least three independent experiments, appropriate dosimetry analysis and temperature monitoring). We conducted a systematic literature review and charted data in order to overview the main characteristics of included studies. From the 4362 papers retrieved with our search strategy, 121 were pertinent but, among them, only 42 met basic quality criteria. We pooled data with respect to exposure (frequency, exposure level and duration) and biological parameters (cell type, endpoint), and highlighted some qualitative trends with respect to the detection of significant effect of RF-EMF on the apoptotic process. We provided a qualitative picture of the evidence accumulated so far, and highlighted that the quality of experimental methodology still needs to be highly improved.