Electromagnetic Fields, Genomic Instability and Cancer: A Systems Biological View

Abstract

This review discusses the use of systems biology in understanding the biological effectsof electromagnetic fields, with particular focus on induction of genomic instability and cancer. Weintroduce basic concepts of the dynamical systems theory such as the state space and attractors andthe use of these concepts in understanding the behavior of complex biological systems. We thendiscuss genomic instability in the framework of the dynamical systems theory, and describe thehypothesis that environmentally induced genomic instability corresponds to abnormal attractorstates; large enough environmental perturbations can force the biological system to leave normalevolutionarily optimized attractors (corresponding to normal cell phenotypes) and migrate to lessstable variant attractors. We discuss experimental approaches that can be coupled with theoreticalsystems biology such as testable predictions, derived from the theory and experimental methods,that can be used for measuring the state of the complex biological system. We also reviewpotentially informative studies and make recommendations for further studies.

Assessment of Genotoxicity in Human Cells Exposed to Modulated Electromagnetic Fields of Wireless Communication Devices

“…However, we cannot fully exclude the possibility that wEMFs affect specific repair processes under specific conditions, as reported for instance for nucleotide excision repair in cancerous p53 negative cells [56]. Besides directly damaging DNA or perturbing DNA repair capacity, wEMFs might trigger a general stress response in cells, which then modulates cell behavior in the presence of additional stressors such as genotoxic agents or unfavorable cell culture conditions [61]. If that was the case, it is not surprising that the complexity of the interactions of environmental factors, combined with the variable genetic make-up and physiological state of cells, will generate cell type-specific [48,54] and difficult to reproduce experimental outcomes [6,20].…”

“…We, therefore, conclude that the CA, designed to measure DNA damage on the single cell level, may have limitations in monitoring cellular wEMF responses and produce weak positive results in one setup and a negative result in another, depending on the experimental conditions and applied method of analysis and statistic [38,47,64,65]. In our opinion, the cell culture method appears very critical for the determination of the genotoxic potential of wEMF exposure, as cellular stress might be induced to a variable extent, which modulates wEMF-dependent responses [61]. For instance, we were not able to measure increased DNA damage in GSM-217Hz-exposed HTR-8/SVneo cells, using complete standard growth medium (Figures 1 and 4), whereas a weak tendency ( Figure S16) and significantly increased DNA damage [22] were apparent, when the same cells were grown without serum at high cell density.…”

The Influence of Electromagnetic Field Pollution on Human Health: A Systematic Review

“…9 Ten out of 12 review studies included in the review suggested possibility of linkage of EMF with cellular pathways like apoptosis and other cellular regulatory mechanism which may lead to carcinogenesis. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] One study also reported increased reactive oxygen species on exposure to EMF in human cell lines leading to cellular damage. 11 However, two review articles reported unlikely or inconsistent findings of any effect of EMF exposure on cognitive functions and brain tumours.…”

Evaluation of the thermal effect of LTE 2600 MHz (4G) electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure: Thermographic study on rats

“…Heat dissipation depends on three mechanisms: transfer, convection and radiation of thermal energy (18). Humans and animal's body tissues are very sensitive to electromagnetic radiation in terms of heat genesis due to the absorption and conversion of electromagnetic energy to heat energy by translational and vibrational excitation of the atoms inside the cell leading to heat generation (19)(20)(21). The generation of heat in the tissues is connected to the amount of radiation energy absorbed, which depends on the radiation frequency and exposure time in a sufficient degree of tissue warm-up leading to cellular dysfunction (22,23).…”