Abstract
Electrical devices currently used in clinical practice and common household equipments generate extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) that were classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as “possible carcinogenic.” Assuming that ELF-MF plays a role in the carcinogenic process without inducing direct genomic alterations, ELF-MF may be involved in the promotion or progression of cancers. In particular, ELF-MF-induced responses are suspected to activate redox-responsive intracellular signaling or detoxification scavenging systems. In fact, improved protection against oxidative stress and redox-active xenobiotics is thought to provide critical proliferative and survival advantage in tumors. On this basis, an ever-growing research activity worldwide is attempting to establish whether tumor cells may develop multidrug resistance through the activation of essential cytoprotective networks in the presence of ELF fields, and how this might trigger relevant changes in tumor phenotype. This review builds a framework around how the activity of redox-responsive mediators may be controlled by co-exposure to ELF-MF and reactive oxygen species-generating agents in tumor and cancer cells, in order to clarify whether and how such potential molecular targets could help to minimize or neutralize the functional interaction between ELF-MF and malignancies.
Highlights
Cancer is characterized by an unrestrained proliferation of cells that are functionally and morphologically different [1]
Bułdak et al [7] found that cisplatin-dependent genotoxicity and oxidative damage in murine carcinoma cells were reverted by an acute exposure to 50 Hz, 1 mT magnetic fields (MF), and this was paralleled by an MF-induced improvement of MnSOD superoxide-scavenging activity, providing evidence of a remarkable protective effect of ELF fields on the mitochondrial oxidative load derived from the use of a clinically relevant antiblastic drug on cancer cells
As evident from the above discussed results, many contradictory effects of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) were reported in literature
Summary
Low-Frequency Magnetic Fields and Redox-Responsive Pathways Linked to Cancer Drug Resistance: Insights from Co-ExposureBased In Vitro Studies. Electrical devices currently used in clinical practice and common household equipments generate extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF) that were classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as “possible carcinogenic.”. Improved protection against oxidative stress and redox-active xenobiotics is thought to provide critical proliferative and survival advantage in tumors. On this basis, an ever-growing research activity worldwide is attempting to establish whether tumor cells may develop multidrug resistance through the activation of essential cytoprotective networks in the presence of ELF fields, and how this might trigger relevant changes in tumor phenotype.
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