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Cancer & Tumors

Effect of cell phone-like electromagnetic radiation on primary human thyroid cells.

No Effects Found

Silva V, Hilly O, Strenov Y, Tzabari C, Hauptman Y, Feinmesser R · 2016

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Lab study found no cancer-promoting effects of cell phone radiation on human thyroid cells, but limitations prevent definitive safety conclusions.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers exposed human thyroid cells from surgical patients to cell phone-like radiofrequency radiation and tested for cancer-related changes. They found no effects on cell growth markers, DNA damage indicators, or stress proteins that typically signal cellular harm. The study suggests that under these specific conditions, cell phone radiation did not trigger cancer-promoting changes in thyroid cells.

Study Details

To evaluate the potential carcinogenic effects of radiofrequency energy (RFE) emitted by cell phones on human thyroid primary cells.

Primary thyroid cell culture was prepared from normal thyroid tissue obtained from patients who unde...

Our cells highly expressed thyroglobulin (Tg) and sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) confirming the origi...

Our conditions of RFE exposure seem to have no potential carcinogenic effect on human thyroid cells. Moreover, common biomarkers usually associated to environmental stress also remained unchanged. We failed to find an association between cell phone-RFE and thyroid cancer. Additional studies are recommended.

Cite This Study
Silva V, Hilly O, Strenov Y, Tzabari C, Hauptman Y, Feinmesser R (2016). Effect of cell phone-like electromagnetic radiation on primary human thyroid cells. Int J Radiat Biol. 2016;92(2):107-15.
Show BibTeX
@article{v_2016_effect_of_cell_phonelike_3401,
  author = {Silva V and Hilly O and Strenov Y and Tzabari C and Hauptman Y and Feinmesser R},
  title = {Effect of cell phone-like electromagnetic radiation on primary human thyroid cells.},
  year = {2016},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26689947/},
}
PubMed: 26689947

Cited By (26 papers)

Quick Questions About This Study

A 2016 study by Silva and colleagues found no damage to human thyroid cells from cell phone-like radiofrequency radiation. The researchers tested cells from surgical patients and found no effects on cell growth markers, DNA damage indicators, or stress proteins that typically signal cellular harm.
Research on human thyroid cells exposed to cell phone-like radiofrequency radiation found no cancer-promoting changes. The 2016 study showed no effects on proliferation markers like Ki-67 or p53 expression, suggesting RF exposure didn't trigger pathways typically associated with thyroid cancer development.
Human thyroid cells showed no DNA damage from radiofrequency radiation exposure in laboratory testing. The 2016 study found that DNA ploidy remained unchanged after RF exposure, indicating the cellular genetic material wasn't affected by radiation levels similar to cell phones.
Thyroid cells showed no signs of environmental stress when exposed to cell phone-like radiation. The Silva study found that stress biomarkers HSP70 and ROS remained unchanged, indicating the cells weren't experiencing the cellular stress typically associated with harmful environmental exposures.
Thyroid cells taken from surgical patients showed no sensitivity to radiofrequency exposure in laboratory conditions. The cells maintained normal thyroglobulin and sodium-iodide symporter expression, confirming they functioned normally even after exposure to cell phone-like radiation levels.