Department of Bioethics & Science Communication, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch, 13092 Berlin, Germany;
Curr Genomics. 2009 Apr;10(2):86-92. doi: 10.2174/138920209787847050.
The mode of action of a huge amount of agents on biological systems is still unknown. One example where more questions than answers exist is covered by the term electromagnetic fields (EMF). Use of wireless communication, e.g. mobile phones, has been escalated in the last few years. Due to this fact, a lot of discussions dealt with health consequences of EMF emitted by these devices and led to an increased investigation of their effects to biological systems, mainly by using traditional methods. Omics technologies have the advantage to contain methods for investigations on DNA-, RNA- and protein level as well as changes in the metabolism.This literature survey is an overview of the available scientific publications regarding biological and health effects of EMF and the application of new high-throughput technologies. The aim of the study was to analyse the amount and the distribution of these technologies and to evaluate their relevance to the risk analysis of EMF. At present, only transcriptomics is able to analyse almost all of the specific molecules. In comparison to ionising radiation, fewer articles dealt with health effects of EMF. Interestingly, most of the EMF articles came from European institutions.Although omics techniques allow exact and simultaneous examinations of thousands of genes, proteins and metabolites in high-throughput technologies, it will be an absolute prerequisite to use standardised protocols and to independently validate the results for comparability and eventually for sound standing statements concerning possible effects of agents like EMF on biological systems.
大量药物对生物系统的作用模式仍然未知。其中一个存在更多问题而不是答案的例子是电磁场（EMF）。近年来，无线通信的使用（例如移动电话）已经升级。由于这个事实，许多讨论涉及这些设备发出的 EMF 的健康后果，并导致对其对生物系统的影响进行了更多的调查，主要是使用传统方法。组学技术具有在 DNA、RNA 和蛋白质水平以及代谢变化方面进行调查的方法的优势。本文综述了有关 EMF 的生物学和健康影响以及新高通量技术应用的现有科学出版物。该研究的目的是分析这些技术的数量和分布，并评估它们对 EMF 风险分析的相关性。目前，只有转录组学能够分析几乎所有特定分子。与电离辐射相比，关于 EMF 健康影响的文章较少。有趣的是，大多数 EMF 文章来自欧洲机构。尽管组学技术允许在高通量技术中精确且同时检查数千个基因、蛋白质和代谢物，但使用标准化协议并独立验证结果以进行可比性并最终就像 EMF 这样的药物对生物系统可能产生的影响做出合理的声明将是绝对必要的。
