Bystander effect in SHSY-5Y cells exposed to radiofrequency fields

This study aims to investigate the capability of the culture medium from SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells exposed to radiofrequency (RF, 1950 MHz, UMTS signal, 0.3 W/kg) to elicit, in recipient non-exposed cells, a reduction of menadione-induced DNA damage, indicating a bystander effect. This reduction was also detected in cultures directly exposed to the same conditions, confirming previous studies on the adaptive response. We also evidenced an increase of heat shock protein 70 in culture medium of RF-exposed cells. On the whole, RF seems to induce a protective effect in directly and non-directly exposed cells, and suggest hsp70 pathway as one of the potential candidates at the basis of the pbserved phenomena .