Effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields on C-myc transcript levels in nonsynchronized and synchronized human cells.

The effects of 50 Hz electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on the expression of the c-myc oncogene, known to be involved in normal cell proliferation and possibly also in tumor processes, were investigated in nonsynchronized human lymphoid cells immortalized by Epstein-Barr virus. Viral injury to such cells makes them a good model for exploring the possible cancer-promoting effects of 50 Hz magnetic fields. Parallel experiments were conducted on human HL60 leukemic cells. Cells were exposed to sinusoidal 50 Hz EMFs at 10 microT or 1 mT for 20 min, 1 h, 24 h, or 72 h. Exposure was performed either immediately after refeeding or 1.5 h after refeeding. C-myc transcript values were assessed by Northern blot analysis and normalized to those of the noninducible gene GaPDH. No statistically significant difference between the c-myc transcript levels of control and exposed cells was found in lymphoid or leukemic cells under our experimental conditions, either after short exposures of 20 min and 1 h or after longer exposures of 24 and 72 h. Other experiments were carried out with pseudosynchronized cells in an attempt to establish whether cells were especially sensitive to 50 Hz magnetic field exposure in any particular phase of the cell cycle. Accordingly, cells were pseudosynchronized in G0/G1 by serum deprivation and exposed for 20 min to a 50 Hz magnetic field, at 10 microT for lymphoid cells and 1 mT for HL60 cells. No significant difference was observed between the c-myc transcript levels of control and exposed cells for either of the synchronized cell types. These results for synchronized cells correlated with those for nonsynchronized cells.