Makar Vera, Logani Mahendra, Szabo Imre, Ziskin Marvin
Richard J. Fox Center for Biomedical Physics, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, USA.
Bioelectromagnetics. 2003 Jul;24(5):356-65. doi: 10.1002/bem.10106.
The effects of low power electromagnetic millimeter waves (MWs) on T cell activation, proliferation, and effector functions were studied in BALB/c mice. These functions are important in T-lymphocyte mediated immune responses. The MW exposure characteristics were: frequency = 42.2 GHz; peak incident power density = 31 +/- 5 mW/cm(2), peak specific absorption rate (SAR) at the skin surface = 622 +/- 100 W/kg; duration 30 min daily for 3 days. MW treatment was applied to the nasal area. The mice were additionally treated with cyclophosphamide (CPA), 100 mg/kg, a commonly used immunosuppressant and anticancer drug. Four groups of animals were used in each experiment: naive control (Naive), CPA treated (CPA), CPA treated and sham exposed (CPA + Sham), and CPA treated and MW exposed (CPA + MW). MW irradiation of CPA treated mice significantly augmented the proliferation recovery process of T cells (splenocytes). A statistically significant difference (P <.05) between CPA and CPA + MW groups was observed when cells were stimulated with an antigen. On the other hand, no statistically significant difference between CPA and CPA-Sham groups was observed. Based on flow cytometry of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, two major classes of T cells, we show that CD4(+) T cells play an important role in the proliferation recovery process. MW exposure restored the CD25 surface activation marker expression in CD4(+) T cells. We next examined the effector function of purified CD4(+) T cells by measuring their cytokine profile. No changes were observed after MW irradiation in interleukin-10 (IL-10) level, a Th2 type cytokine, while the level of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), a Th1 type cytokine was increased twofold. Our results indicate that MWs enhance the effector function of CD4(+) T cells preferentially, through initiating a Th1 type of immune response. This was further supported by our observation of a significant enhancement of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) production by peritoneal macrophage's in CPA treated mice. The present study shows MWs ameliorate the immunosuppressive effects of CPA by augmenting the proliferation of splenocytes, and altering the activation and effector functions of CD4(+) T cells.
在BALB/c小鼠中研究了低功率电磁毫米波（MWs）对T细胞活化、增殖及效应功能的影响。这些功能在T淋巴细胞介导的免疫反应中很重要。MW暴露特征为：频率 = 42.2 GHz；峰值入射功率密度 = 31±5 mW/cm²，皮肤表面峰值比吸收率（SAR） = 622±100 W/kg；每天持续30分钟，共3天。MW治疗应用于鼻腔区域。小鼠还接受了100 mg/kg的环磷酰胺（CPA）治疗，CPA是一种常用的免疫抑制剂和抗癌药物。每个实验使用四组动物：未处理对照（Naive）、CPA处理组（CPA）、CPA处理并假暴露组（CPA + Sham）以及CPA处理并MW暴露组（CPA + MW）。MW照射CPA处理的小鼠显著增强了T细胞（脾细胞）的增殖恢复过程。当用抗原刺激细胞时，CPA组和CPA + MW组之间观察到统计学上的显著差异（P <.05）。另一方面，CPA组和CPA - Sham组之间未观察到统计学上的显著差异。基于对CD4⁺和CD8⁺ T细胞（两类主要的T细胞）的流式细胞术分析，我们表明CD4⁺ T细胞在增殖恢复过程中起重要作用。MW暴露恢复了CD4⁺ T细胞表面活化标志物CD25的表达。接下来，我们通过测量纯化的CD4⁺ T细胞的细胞因子谱来检测其效应功能。MW照射后，Th2型细胞因子白细胞介素 - 10（IL - 10）水平未观察到变化，而Th1型细胞因子干扰素 - γ（IFN - γ）水平增加了两倍。我们的结果表明，MWs通过启动Th1型免疫反应优先增强CD4⁺ T细胞的效应功能。我们观察到CPA处理的小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞产生的肿瘤坏死因子 - α（TNF - α）显著增强，这进一步支持了上述结果。本研究表明，MWs通过增强脾细胞增殖以及改变CD4⁺ T细胞的活化和效应功能，改善了CPA的免疫抑制作用。
