Short-Term Exposure to a 50 Hz Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Field (ELF-EMF) Leads to ROS-Mediated DNA Damage in Gynecological and Urological Cancer Cells In Vitro

The effect of sinusoidal Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (ELF-EMFs) on gynecological (HeLa, ES-2) and urological (DU-145) cancer cells was investigated. ELF-EMFs with a frequency of 50 Hz and a magnetic flux density of 1.3 mT were applied for 15 and 30 min. The experiment was conceptualized to investigate the in vitro short-term effects of ELF-EMFs on cell reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, the levels of genes and proteins involved in DNA damage response, and epigenetic modifications. Here, we found that ELF-EMFs treatment leads to an elevation in the ROS levels that contribute to distinct scenarios in the studied cancer cells. The most prominent changes in the studied factors were found in ES-2 and DU-145 cells exposed to 30 min of ELF-EMFs. ES-2 cells exhibited upregulation of XRCC5 gene expression and elevated levels of several proteins: TNF-α, RAD51, APE1, XRCC1, and NSUN2. Diminished levels of BCL-2, HSP90, RAD51, and TNF-α, as well as overexpression of VIM and METTL3, were observed in DU-145 cells. In summary, we postulate that short-term exposure to 50 Hz ELF-EMFs may be a promising treatment strategy for gynecological and urological cancer cells.