School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Aug 9;12:1425023. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1425023. eCollection 2024.
The influence of weak radio-frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) on living organisms raises new concern because of the Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) frequency band at 6.78 MHz being promoted by the AirFuel Alliance for mid-range wireless power transfer (WPT) applications and product development. Human exposure to the RF-EMF radiation is unavoidable. In this study, we employed cell culture and molecular biology approach coupled with integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analyses to uncover the effects of RF-EMF on cells at molecular and cellular levels. Our study has demonstrated that weak RF-EMF is sufficient to exert non-thermal effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Exposure of weak RF-EMF promotes cell proliferation, inhibits apoptosis and deregulates ROS balance. Alteration of several signaling pathways and key enzymes involved in NADPH metabolism, cell proliferation and ferroptosis were identified. Our current study provide solid evidence for the first time that the present safety standards that solely considered the thermal effect of RF-EMF on cell tissue are inadequate, prompt response and modification of existing Guidelines, Standards and Regulation are warranted.
弱射频电磁场(RF-EMF)对生物体的影响引起了新的关注,因为工业、科学和医疗(ISM)频段的 6.78MHz 正被 AirFuel 联盟推广用于中程无线功率传输(WPT)应用和产品开发。人类不可避免地会接触到射频电磁辐射。在这项研究中,我们采用细胞培养和分子生物学方法,结合整合的转录组学和蛋白质组学分析,揭示了射频电磁辐射在分子和细胞水平上对细胞的影响。我们的研究表明,弱射频 EMF 足以对人脐静脉内皮细胞(HUVEC)产生非热效应。弱 RF-EMF 的照射可促进细胞增殖,抑制细胞凋亡并破坏 ROS 平衡。确定了参与 NADPH 代谢、细胞增殖和铁死亡的几个信号通路和关键酶的改变。我们目前的研究首次提供了确凿的证据,表明仅考虑射频电磁辐射对细胞组织的热效应的现行安全标准是不够的,有必要对现有准则、标准和法规做出响应和修改。