New Perspectives in the Treatment of Tumor Cells by Electromagnetic Radiation at Resonance Frequencies in Cellular Membrane Channels

Abstract

Background: The use of electromagnetic fields has been considered as adjuvant therapy for the treatment of cancer given that some clinical trials have shown that the irradiation of cancer cells with electromagnetic fields can slow down the disease progression. Aims: We hypothesize that this effect could be amplified by irradiating tumor cells with electromagnetic fields having frequencies close to the natural resonant frequencies of membrane channels in tumor cells, in order to obtain a significant change of the ion flux across tumor cell membrane channels, inducing the largest harmful alteration in their cellular function. Methods: Neuronal-like cells were used as a cell model and exposed for 6 h to electromagnetic fields at different frequencies (0, 50 Hz, 900 MHz) at the same intensity of 2 mT. The exposure system was represented by two Helmholtz coils driven by a power amplifier in current mode and an arbitrary function generator. FTIR spectroscopy was used to evaluate the results of the exposure. Results: The results of this study showed that the Amide I vibration band increased in intensity with the increase of the frequency, leading us to assume that the displacement of the cell channels α-helices depends on the frequency of the applied electromagnetic fields. Conclusion: This preliminary result leads us to plan future research aimed at searching for the natural frequencies of membrane channels in tumor cells using resonant electromagnetic fields in order to damage the cellular functions of tumor cells. Clinical trials are needed to confirm such a hypothesis derived from this physical study.

"Rotation of Simple Organic Systems Can Be Induced by Low Intensity Electromagnetic Fields"

“…Typical proteins in bidistilled water solution were used in these experiments [4][5][6] in order to schematize cellular environment in which they are embedded. This effect was also observed in typical human cells [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Even this result should not surprise us because proteins α-helices are present in all types of cellular membrane channels [14][15][16].…”

Effects of electromagnetic fields on neuronal ion channels: a systematic review

“…39 Similar alterations were further observed in the inactivation kinetics of different types of VGPCs after acute exposure to SMFs. 46 Interestingly, one of the studies analyzed in this review reported a direct correlation between the frequency of EMFs (ELF-EMFs and RF-EMFs) and the displacement of the α-helices in ion channels, 71 which could be related to the changes in gating dynamics reported elsewhere. 38,39,43,88,89 In summary, it appears that the effect of EMFs on VGCs is exerted at multiple levels, one being a rapid modulation in the transport dynamics of VGC proteins, and the other being changes in both their gene and protein expression and density in the membrane.…”

“…Acute exposure to SMFs is reported to have effects on both the inactivation kinetics of VGPCs and the intracellular basal calcium level. Finally, one other study 71 established a direct proportionality between the frequency of EMFs used (ELF-EMFs and RF-EMFs) and the displacement of protein α-helices of different ion channels.…”

Applying Resonant Electromagnetic Fields in Membrane Channels of Tumor Cells: The Future of Cancer Treatment

“…Nevertheless, significant bystander effects are induced by such treatments, as specified at the top of this note. However, it was shown that displacement of proteins' α-helices in cells membrane channels are induced also by EMFs so that ions flux across cellular membrane channels change [32][33][34]. Hence, the authors of Ref.…”

“…Hence, the authors of Ref. [32][33][34] have taken a cue from this result hypothesizing to emphasize this mechanism using EMFs at a frequency close to a natural resonant frequency of cellular membrane channel in cancer cells, inducing an amplification of change in ions flux across channels and a significant damaging of cancer cells. Otherwise, it was also demonstrated that there is a correlation between the displacement of cell channels α-helices and the frequency of an applied high frequency EMFs confirming this scenario [35].…”