Impact of 1.8-GHz radiofrequency radiation (RFR) on DNA damage and repair induced by doxorubicin in human B-cell lymphoblastoid cells

In the present in vitro study, a comet assay was used to determine whether 1.8-GHz radiofrequency radiation (RFR, SAR of 2W/kg) can influence DNA repair in human B-cell lymphoblastoid cells exposed to doxorubicin (DOX) at the doses of 0microg/ml, 0.05microg/ml, 0.075microg/ml, 0.10microg/ml, 0.15microg/ml and 0.20microg/ml. The combinative exposures to RFR with DOX were divided into five categories. DNA damage was detected at 0h, 6h, 12h, 18h and 24h after exposure to DOX via the comet assay, and the percent of DNA in the tail (% tail DNA) served as the indicator of DNA damage. The results demonstrated that (1) RFR could not directly induce DNA damage of human B-cell lymphoblastoid cells; (2) DOX could significantly induce DNA damage of human B-cell lymphoblastoid cells with the dose-effect relationship, and there were special repair characteristics of DNA damage induced by DOX; (3) E-E-E type (exposure to RFR for 2h, then simultaneous exposure to RFR and DOX, and exposure to RFR for 6h, 12h, 18h and 24h after exposure to DOX) combinative exposure could obviously influence DNA repair at 6h and 12h after exposure to DOX for four DOX doses (0.075microg/ml, 0.10microg/ml, 0.15microg/ml and 0.20microg/ml) in human B-cell lymphoblastoid cells.