W-Band Millimeter Waves Targeted Mortality of H1299 Human Lung Cancer Cells without Affecting Non-tumorigenic MCF-10A Human Epithelial Cells In Vitro

Abstract

Therapeutically effective treatments of cancer are limited. To calibrate the efficiency of the novel technique we recently discovered to modulate cancer cell viability using tuned electromagnetic fields; H1299 human lung cancer cells were irradiated in a sweeping regime of W-band (75-105 GHz) millimeter waves (MMW) at 0.2 mW/cm2 (2 W/m2). Effects on cell morphology, cell death and senescence were examined and compared to that of non-tumorigenic MCF-10A human epithelial cells. MMW irradiation led to alterations of cell and nucleus morphology of H1299 cells, significantly increasing mortality and senescence over 14 days of observation. Extended irradiation of 10 minutes duration resulted in complete death of exposed H1299 cell population within two days, while healthy MCF-10A cells remained unaffected even after 16 minutes of irradiation under the same conditions. Irradiation effects were observed to be specific to MMW treated H1299 cells and absent in the control group of non-irradiated cells. MMW irradiation did not affect cell morphology of immortalized MCF-10A cells. Irradiation with low intensity MMW shows an antitumor effect on H1299 lung cancer cells. This method provides a novel treatment modality enabling targeted specificity for various types of cancers.

Non-thermal Millimeter Waves Non-Ionizing Radiation of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae – Insights and Interactions.

“…Thermal ablation techniques have been employed as the other alternative but with restricted application in order not to burn normal cells/tissues during treatment. Our experiments demonstrated that non-ionizing MMW (75-105 GHz) exposure with a non-thermal power density of 0.2 mW/cm 2 can elicit morphological changes in H1299 human lung cancer cells [4] leading to targeted apoptosis and mortality [5] without harming normal cells under the same exposure conditions. MMWs are also reported to be helpful for detecting different types of cancers [6].…”

“…MMW treatment is known to result in membrane depolarizations resulting in the loss of integral charge status and direction [8] at specific threshold power densities dependent on the number of cells under target, which could trigger such translocation events of signaling proteins activating the corresponding cascade processes. Sweeping frequency regimes over 75 -105 GHz at 0.2 mW/cm 2 resulted in apoptosis of H1299 lung cancer cells [5] and is likely to have arisen from such electromagnetic modulation of charge separated membranes activating signaling cascade processes. Experimentally, irradiation at 35 GHz is reported to activate the apoptotic caspase pathway in A375 melanoma cells in vitro [38].…”

“…A direct application of the MMW radiation effect mechanisms presented in this article for non-thermal exposure regimes can be used for treating pathogenic fungal infections (via cell division inhibition effect, ref. Fig 1) which are common in dermatology [43] and reproductive health [44]; and cancer lesion/tissue treatments (via cancer cell mortality effect [4,5]) by appropriately scaling the exposure conditions described here to match clinical cell densities; besides various other promising purposes. Further, recent advances in endoscopic probes [45] operating in the Super High Frequency (SHF) 3 -30 GHz bandwidths and similar technological trends will enable novel avenues of adapting such non-thermal techniques to treat internal body sites overcoming the burn -hazard restrictions in application of conventional thermal ablation procedures.…”