Cross-talk between non-ionizing electromagnetic fields and metastasis; EMT and hybrid E/M may explain the anticancer role of EMFs

Author: Romina Mehdizadeh1, Alireza Madjid Ansari2, Flora Forouzesh1, Reyhane Ghadirian2, Fatemeh Shahriari3, Seyed Peyman Shariatpanahi4, Mohammad Amin Javidi5
Affiliation:
1 Department of Genetics, Faculty of Advanced Science, and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Department of Integrative Oncology, Breast Cancer Research Center, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran.
3 Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
4 Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
5 Department of Integrative Oncology, Breast Cancer Research Center, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran; Department of Genetics, Faculty of Advanced Science, and Technology, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: Javidi@acecr.ac.ir.
Conference/Journal: Prog Biophys Mol Biol
Date published: 2023 Jun 9
Other: Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2023.06.003. , Word Count: 175


Recent studies have shown that non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (NIEMFs) in a specific frequency, intensity, and exposure time can have anti-cancer effects on various cancer cells; however, the underlying precise mechanism of action is not transparent. Most cancer deaths are due to metastasis. This important phenomenon plays an inevitable role in different steps of cancer including progression and development. It has different stages including invasion, intravasation, migration, extravasation, and homing. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), as well as hybrid E/M state, are biological processes, that involve both natural embryogenesis and tissue regeneration, and abnormal conditions including organ fibrosis or metastasis. In this context, some evidence reveals possible footprints of the important EMT-related pathways which may be affected in different EMFs treatments. In this article, critical EMT molecules and/or pathways which can be potentially affected by EMFs (e.g., VEGFR, ROS, P53, PI3K/AKT, MAPK, Cyclin B1, and NF-кB) are discussed to shed light on the mechanism of EMFs anti-cancer effect.

Keywords: E-Cadherin; Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; Metastasis; N-Cadherin; Non-ionizing electromagnetic fields; Snail.

PMID: 37302516 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2023.06.003

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