Speaker
Description
The deployment of 5G New Radio (5G-NR) technology has raised concerns about the potential health effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF). However, the biological impact of 5G-modulated signals remains underexplored. This study aims to investigate the effects of 5G-modulated RF-EMF exposure at 3.5 GHz (FR1) and 26.5 GHz (FR2) on the gene expression profile of human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells.
Cells were exposed to 5G-NR signals at specific absorption rates (SAR) of 0.4 W/kg and 1 W/kg for durations of 1, 3, and 24 hours. The 3.5 GHz exposures were conducted using the sXc3500 5G-NR exposure system (IT’IS Foundation) at Sciensano, while 26.5 GHz exposures were performed with a reverberation chamber-based system at CNR-IREA. Post-exposure, cell lysates were collected and analyzed using Templated Oligo Sequencing (TempO-Seq) using a Whole Transcriptome Panel. Differential gene expression analysis and pathway enrichment analysis were performed to identify affected biological pathways.
This study presents preliminary data, employing a whole-transcriptome approach to elucidate the potential biological effects of 5G-modulated RF-EMF exposure on human skin cells and improve our understanding on potential health impacts of emerging wireless technologies.
