Two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of radio frequency radiation-exposed MCF7 breast cancer cells

Although many in vitro studies have previously been conducted to elucidate the biological effects of radio frequency (RF) radiation over the past decades, the existence and nature of any effects is still inconclusive. In an effort to further elucidate this question, we have monitored changes in protein expression profiles in RF-exposed MCF7 human breast cancer cells using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. MCF7 cells were exposed to 849 MHz RF radiation for 1 h per day for three consecutive days at specific absorption rates (SARs) of either 2 W/Kg or 10 W/kg. During exposure, the temperature in the exposure chamber was kept in an isothermal condition. Twenty-four hours after the final RF exposure, the protein lysates from MCF cells were prepared and two-dimensional electrophoretic analyses were conducted. The protein expression profiles of the MCF cells were not significantly altered as the result of RF exposure. None of the protein spots on the two-dimensional electrophoretic gels showed reproducible changes in three independent experiments. To determine effect of RF radiation on protein expression profiles more clearly, three spots showing altered expression without reproducibility were identified using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry analysis and their expressions were examined with RT-PCR and Western blot assays. There was no alteration in their mRNA and protein levels. As we were unable to observe any significant and reproducible changes in the protein expression profiles of the RF radiation-exposed MCF7 cells using high throughput and non-high throughput techniques, it seems unlikely that RF exposure modulates the protein expression profile.