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Original Articles: Basic Science
Exposure of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells to Electromagnetic Fields Up-Regulates the Plasminogen Activator System
  1. Rainer Girgert, PhD*,†,
  2. Günter Emons, MD*,
  3. Volker Hanf, MD‡ and
  4. Carsten Gründker, PhD*
  1. * Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen;
  2. † Department of Nephrology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen;
  3. ‡ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Klinikum Fürth, Fürth, Germany.
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Rainer Girgert, PhD, Department of Nephrology, University of Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Strasse 40, D-37075 Göttingen, Germany. E-mail: rainer.girgert{at}med.uni-goettingen.de.

Abstract

Effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on the incidence of breast cancer (BC) have been proposed by a number of epidemiological studies. The molecular mechanism of the impact of EMFs on cells is not yet clear, although changes in gene expression have been reported in various cellular systems. In this investigation, the interference of low-frequency EMFs with the plasminogen activator system was examined in BC cells.

MCF-7 BC cells from 2 different sources were exposed to highly homogeneous 50-Hz EMFs. Changes in gene expression were analyzed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.

In MCF-7 cells exposed to 1.2 μT EMF expression of the urokinase plasminogen activator gene and of plasminogen-activator inhibitor-1 was markedly increased. The expression of the receptor for urokinase plasminogen activator was only marginally increased in 1 of the 2 tested cell lines and expression of the tissue plasminogen activator was at least slightly down-regulated in BC cells exposed to EMFs.

EMFs may be able to increase the metastatic potential of breast tumors. The use of our newly established exposure system for EMFs may allow us to study the signaling processes involved in the induction of a metastatic phenotype of breast cancer cells.

  • Breast cancer
  • Metastasis
  • Plasminogen activator
  • Electromagnetic fields
  • Gene expression

https://doi.org/10.1111/IGC.0b013e31819f53ec

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