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Gang Chen,¹ Brad L. Upham,¹ Wei Sun,¹ Chia-Cheng Chang,¹ Edward J. Rothwell,² Kun-Mu Chen,² Hiroshi Yamasaki,³ and James E. Trosko¹

¹Department of Pediatrics and Human Development, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
²Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
³Unit of Multistage Carcinogenesis, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France

Abstract

Whether exposure of humans to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) can cause cancer is controversial and therefore needs further research. We used a Friend erythroleukemia cell line that can be chemically induced to differentiate to determine whether ELF-EMF could alter proliferation and differentiation in these cells in a manner similar to that of a chemical tumor promoter. Exposure of this cell line to 60 Hz ELF-EMF resulted in a dose dependent inhibition of differentiation, with maximal inhibition peaking at 40% and 40 mG (4 µT) . ELF-EMF at 10 mG (1.0 µT) and 25 mG (2.5 µT) inhibited differentiation at 0 and 20%, respectively. ELF-EMF at 1.0 (100) and 10.0 G (1,000 µT) stimulated cell proliferation 50% above the sham-treated cells. The activity of telomerase, a marker of undifferentiated cells, decreased 100 when the cells were induced to differentiate under sham conditions, but when the cells were exposed to 0.5 G (50 µT) there was only a 10 decrease. In summary, ELF-EMF can partially block the differentiation of Friend erythroleukemia cells, and this results in a larger population of cells remaining in the undifferentiated, proliferative state, which is similar to the published results of Friend erythroleukemia cells treated with chemical-tumor promoters. Key words: cancer, cell differentiation, extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields, Friend leukemia cells, telomerase activity. Environ Health Perspect 108:967-972 (2000) . [Online 7 September 2000]

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2000/108p967-972chen/ abstract.html

Address correspondence to J.E. Trosko, Michigan State University, 246 Food Safety and Toxicology Bldg., East Lansing, MI 48824 USA. Telephone: (517) 353-6346. Fax: (517) 432-6340. Email: trosko@msu.edu

We thank R. Davenport for her excellent word processing skills in preparing the manuscript and L. King for assisting us with the FACS analyses. We thank the Electrical Power Research Institute (contract UBP950822) for funding this research.

Received 7 March 2000 ; accepted 1 June 2000.