Kovalevska Larysa, Golenkov Olexandr, Kulahina Yelyzaveta, Callender Todd, Sizov Fedir, Kashuba Elena
R.E. Kavetsky Institute of Experimental Pathology, Oncology and Radiobiology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 45 Vasylkivska Str., 03022 Kyiv, Ukraine.
V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 41 pr Nauki, 03028 Kyiv, Ukraine.
Life (Basel). 2022 Mar 5;12(3):376. doi: 10.3390/life12030376.
Terahertz (THz) electromagnetic radiation is commonly used in astronomy, security screening, imaging, and biomedicine, among other applications. Such approach has raised the question of the influence of THz irradiation on biological objects, especially the human body. However, the results obtained to date are quite controversial. Therefore, we performed a comparative study on the viability of normal cells and cancer cells upon irradiation with a steady beam of THz rays. We used human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and cancer cell lines. Primary human mononuclear blood cells (monocytes, and B-, and T-cells) showed an increased death rate, determined by cell counting and fluorescence microscopy, upon 0.14 THz irradiation. The effect of THz radiation was different among malignant cells of B- and T-cell origin (Ramos and Jurkat cells) and epithelial cancer cells (MCF7 and LNCaP). This was demonstrated by cell counting and by the alamarBlue assay. In conclusion, THz radiation can result in the death of human primary and malignant cells. However, the mechanism of this phenomenon is largely unknown. Hence, more work should be done to shed some light on the mechanism of action of THz irradiation in living organisms to enhance technologic developments.
太赫兹（THz）电磁辐射常用于天文学、安全筛查、成像和生物医学等诸多应用领域。这种方法引发了关于太赫兹辐射对生物物体，尤其是人体影响的问题。然而，迄今为止所获得的结果颇具争议。因此，我们对正常细胞和癌细胞在太赫兹射线稳定光束照射下的活力进行了一项对比研究。我们使用了人类外周血单核细胞和癌细胞系。通过细胞计数和荧光显微镜观察发现，在0.14太赫兹照射下，原代人单核血细胞（单核细胞、B细胞和T细胞）的死亡率有所增加。太赫兹辐射对B细胞和T细胞来源的恶性细胞（拉莫斯细胞和尤尔特细胞）以及上皮癌细胞（MCF7和LNCaP）的影响有所不同。这通过细胞计数和alamarBlue检测得以证明。总之，太赫兹辐射可导致人类原代细胞和恶性细胞死亡。然而，这一现象的机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。因此，应开展更多工作以阐明太赫兹辐射在生物体中的作用机制，从而推动技术发展。
