ArticlePloS one2014
Extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields cause G1 phase arrest through the activation of the ATM-Chk2-p21 pathway.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of 4.3 GHz high-power microwave exposure on human corneal epithelial cells.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Article
- The Frequency of a Magnetic Field Determines the Behavior of Tumor and Non-Tumor Nerve Cell Models.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Cellular and Molecular Effects of Magnetic Fields.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- The Cellular Response Is Determined by a Combination of Different ELF-EMF Exposure Parameters: A Scope Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Review
- Differential biological responses of adherent and non-adherent (cancer and non-cancerous) cells to variable extremely low frequency magnetic fields.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Fields Induce mTOR and Hsa_Circ_100338 Expression Changes in Gastric Cancer and Normal Fibroblast Cell Lines.Cell journal · 2022Article
- Regulation of skeletal myogenesis in C2C12 cells through modulation of Pax7, MyoD, and myogenin via different low-frequency electromagnetic field energies.Technology and health care : official journal of the European Society for Engineering and Medicine · 2022Article
- Wound Repair and Extremely Low Frequency-Electromagnetic Field: Insight from In Vitro Study and Potential Clinical Application.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- The effect of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields following on upregulation of miR-21 and miR-29 in gastric cancer cell line.Gastroenterology and hepatology from bed to bench · 2021Article
- Insights in the biology of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields exposure on human health.Molecular biology reports · 2020Review
- Article
- Review
- Magnetocarcinogenesis: is there a mechanism for carcinogenic effects of weak magnetic fields?Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Review
- The molecular mechanism of cell cycle arrest in the Bursa of Fabricius in chick exposed to Aflatoxin BScientific reports · 2018Article
- Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Affect the miRNA-Mediated Regulation of Signaling Pathways in the GC-2 Cell Line.PloS one · 2015Article
- mTOR Activation by PI3K/Akt and ERK Signaling in Short ELF-EMF Exposed Human Keratinocytes.PloS one · 2015Article
- Distinct epidermal keratinocytes respond to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields differently.PloS one · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In daily life, humans are exposed to the extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) generated by electric appliances, and public concern is increasing regarding the biological effects of such exposure. Numerous studies have yielded inconsistent results regarding the biological effects of ELF-EMF exposure. Here we show that ELF-EMFs activate the ATM-Chk2-p21 pathway in HaCaT cells, inhibiting cell proliferation. To present well-founded results, we comprehensively evaluated the biological effects of ELF-EMFs at the transcriptional, protein, and cellular levels. Human HaCaT cells from an immortalized epidermal keratinocyte cell line were exposed to a 1.5 mT, 60 Hz ELF-EMF for 144 h. The ELF-EMF could cause G1 arrest and decrease colony formation. Protein expression experiments revealed that ELF-EMFs induced the activation of the ATM/Chk2 signaling cascades. In addition, the p21 protein, a regulator of cell cycle progression at G1 and G2/M, exhibited a higher level of expression in exposed HaCaT cells compared with the expression of sham-exposed cells. The ELF-EMF-induced G1 arrest was diminished when the CHK2 gene expression (which encodes checkpoint kinase 2; Chk2) was suppressed by specific small interfering RNA (siRNA). These findings indicate that ELF-EMFs activate the ATM-Chk2-p21 pathway in HaCaT cells, resulting in cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. Based on the precise control of the ELF-EMF exposure and rigorous sham-exposure experiments, all transcriptional, protein, and cellular level experiments consistently supported the conclusion. This is the first study to confirm that a specific pathway is triggered by ELF-EMF exposure.
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