Effects of global system for mobile communications 1800 MHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on gene expression in MCF-7 cells

Despite many studies over a decade, it still remains ambiguous as to the real biological effects induced by radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF). Epidemiological studies indicates that long-term exposure to EMF could increase the risk of breast cancer. Some reports have showed that in vitro EMF exposures change cellular gene expression. In this study, we investigated global gene expression responses to RF EMF simulating the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 1800 MHz signal in human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using transcriptomic approaches. MCF-7 cells were intermittently (5 min fields on/10 min fields off) exposed to RF EMF at an average specific absorption rate (SAR) of 2.0 W/kg (2 W/kg exposure group) or sham-exposed (2 W/kg control group) for 24 h, or exposed to RF EMF at a higher level of 3.5 W/kg (3.5 W/kg exposure group) or sham-exposed (3.5 W/kg control group).