Article

High frequency electromagnetic fields (GSM signals) affect gene expression levels in tumor suppressor p53-deficient embryonic stem cells

  1. Jaroslaw Czyz1,†,
  2. Kaomei Guan1,‡,
  3. Qinghua Zeng1,§,
  4. Teodora Nikolova1,
  5. Armin Meister1,
  6. Frank Schönborn2,
  7. Jürgen Schuderer2,
  8. Niels Kuster2,
  9. Anna M. Wobus1,*

Article first published online: 21 APR 2004

DOI: 10.1002/bem.10199

Issue

Bioelectromagnetics

Bioelectromagnetics

Volume 25, Issue 4, pages 296–307, May 2004

Additional Information

How to Cite

Czyz, J., Guan, K., Zeng, Q., Nikolova, T., Meister, A., Schönborn, F., Schuderer, J., Kuster, N. and Wobus, A. M. (2004), High frequency electromagnetic fields (GSM signals) affect gene expression levels in tumor suppressor p53-deficient embryonic stem cells. Bioelectromagnetics, 25: 296–307. doi: 10.1002/bem.10199

Author Information

  1. 1

    In Vitro Differentiation Group, Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Gatersleben, Germany

  2. 2

    Institute for Integrated Systems and Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society (IT'IS), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

  1. †

    Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland.

  2. ‡

    Department of Cardiology and Pneumology, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Göttingen D-37075, Germany.

  3. §

    Institute of Genetics and Cytology, Northeast Normal University, 130024 Changun, China.

*In Vitro Differentiation Group, Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Corrensstr. 3, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 21 APR 2004
  2. Article first published online: 21 APR 2004
  3. Manuscript Revised: 10 OCT 2003
  4. Manuscript Received: 16 JUL 2003

Funded by

  • VERUM Foundation, Munich under EU project (REFLEX). Grant Number: QLK4-CT-1999-01574
  • Fonds der Chemischen Industrie (FCI) FRG

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Keywords:

  • mouse embryonic stem cells;
  • differentiation;
  • hsp70;
  • p53;
  • GSM signals

Abstract

Effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) simulating exposure to the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) signals were studied using pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells in vitro. Wild-type ES cells and ES cells deficient for the tumor suppressor p53 were exposed to pulse modulated EMF at 1.71 GHz, lower end of the uplink band of GSM 1800, under standardized and controlled conditions, and transcripts of regulatory genes were analyzed during in vitro differentiation. Two dominant GSM modulation schemes (GSM-217 and GSM-Talk), which generate temporal changes between GSM-Basic (active during talking phases) and GSM-DTX (active during listening phases thus simulating a typical conversation), were applied to the cells at and below the basic safety limits for local exposures as defined for the general public by the International Commission on Nonionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). GSM-217 EMF induced a significant upregulation of mRNA levels of the heat shock protein, hsp70 of p53-deficient ES cells differentiating in vitro, paralleled by a low and transient increase of c-jun, c-myc, and p21 levels in p53-deficient, but not in wild-type cells. No responses were observed in either cell type after EMF exposure to GSM-Talk applied at similar slot-averaged specific absorption rates (SAR), but at lower time-averaged SAR values. Cardiac differentiation and cell cycle characteristics were not affected in embryonic stem and embryonic carcinoma cells after exposure to GSM-217 EMF signals. Our data indicate that the genetic background determines cellular responses to GSM modulated EMF. Bioelectromagnetics 25:296–307, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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