Journal of Oncology Translational Research

Radio Frequency Electromagnetic Waves Induce Cancer Cell Death

Abstract

Muhammad Bhatti, Juan Lopez and Megan Keniry

The primary objective of this research is to study and interpret the natural physics phenomenon of electromagnetic resonance in one end closed cavity for the eventual purpose of cancer treatment. Radio Frequency waves are released into a coaxial cavity filled with a small amount (1.6 mL) of breast cancer cells (BT549) and the reflection as well as the power input is measured to determine the absorption power into cancer cells. When the reflection of the RF waves from the uploaded sample of cancer cells is at its lowest power, the RF Frequency is noted and seen to be approximately close to the resonant frequency of that cavity. This cavity can potentially be used as a control method of testing RF frequencies on various types of cancer cells, such as the available BT549 cancer cell line obtained from the UTRGV Biology Department. 70% confluent basal breast cancer BT549 cells were grown in RPMI mammalian cell culture media with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 5% penicillin/streptomycin (P/S: from 10,000 U/mL stock solution) in 5% CO2. Samples were treated with 2 mL of 0.25% trypsin solution to detach cells from petri plates; cells were centrifuged at 100 x g for 5 minutes at room temperature to pellet. After this, cells were then re-suspended in fresh RPMI media (with 10% FBS and P/S). The cell density was 250,000 cells per mL at the time of RF treatment. The determined frequency for 1.6 mL of sample article was found to be within the range of radio frequency, but there is much room for improvement in our method, depending on the coaxial cavity design such as length and the radii of the coaxial tubes which is currently under investigation. Some initial results were obtained which showed that the electromagnetic waves induced cancer cell death as assessed by MTT cytotoxicity assays. These assays measure the reduction of MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) by mitochondrial reductases leading to the formation of purple formazan. MTT assays are commonly employed to detect decreased mitochondrial metabolic activity and cell death. The ability of RF waves to induce death in BT549 cells highlights a potential new intervention for poor prognosis basal breast cancer cells in the future.