HSP27 phosphorylation increases after 45 degrees C or 41 degrees C heat shocks but not after non-thermal TDMA or GSM exposures.
Vanderwaal RP, Cha B, Moros EG, Roti Roti JL. · 2006
View Original AbstractCell phone radiation at high power levels didn't trigger cellular stress proteins that heat does, but this doesn't rule out other biological effects.
Plain English Summary
Scientists tested whether cell phone radiation triggers the same cellular stress response as heat in laboratory cells. While heat clearly activated stress proteins, cell phone signals at levels 5-10 times higher than normal phone use caused no detectable stress response, suggesting different biological effects.
Why This Matters
This study provides important context for understanding how EMF exposure affects cellular stress responses. HSP27 is a well-established biomarker that cells produce when they're under stress, making it a reliable indicator of cellular damage. The fact that researchers found no HSP27 activation even at SAR levels of 3.7-5 W/kg is significant because these exposure levels are substantially higher than what you typically encounter from phone use (which averages 0.5-1.5 W/kg). However, we should interpret these results carefully. The absence of one stress marker doesn't mean EMF exposure has no biological effects. The science demonstrates that EMF can trigger other cellular responses that don't involve HSP27 activation. What this means for you is that while this particular study found no evidence of stress protein activation, it represents just one piece of the larger EMF research puzzle.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 5 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 847 MHz
- Exposure Duration
- 1, 2 or 24 hours
Exposure Context
This study used 5 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 12.5x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
Experiments with cultured HeLa, S3 and E.A. Hy296 cells were performed to determine if exposure to acute (30 min at 45 degrees C) or chronic (2 h at 41 degrees C) heat shocks or to non-thermal exposures of radiofrequency radiation (RF) induce changes in HSP27 phosphorylation.
The radiofrequency (RF) exposures used in this study were 847 MHz time division multiple access modu...
Following heat shock, the degree of phosphorylation of HSP27 varied with the heat dose, with acute h...
Acute and moderate hyperthermia significantly increase HSP27 phosphorylation, but there was no significant change in the levels of HSP27 following non-thermal exposure to TDMA and GSM modulated RF radiations.
Show BibTeX
@article{rp_2006_hsp27_phosphorylation_increases_after_1402,
author = {Vanderwaal RP and Cha B and Moros EG and Roti Roti JL.},
title = {HSP27 phosphorylation increases after 45 degrees C or 41 degrees C heat shocks but not after non-thermal TDMA or GSM exposures.},
year = {2006},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16971370/},
}