期刊名称：IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
印刷版ISSN：1755-1307
电子版ISSN：1755-1315
出版年度：2010
卷号：10
DOI：10.1088/1755-1315/10/1/012006
出版社：IOP Publishing
摘要：In this article, we describe two possible applications of low-intensity non-ionizing
electromagnetic fields (EMF) for the treatment of malaria and cancer, respectively. In malaria
treatment, a low-intensity extremely-low frequency magnetic field can be used to induce
vibration of hemozoin, a super-paramagnetic polymer particle, inside malaria parasites. This
disturbance could cause free radical and mechanical damages leading to the death of the
parasite. This concept has been tested in vitro on malaria parasites and found to be effective.
This may provide a low cost effective treatment for malaria infection in humans. The rationale
for cancer treatment using low-intensity EMF is based on two concepts that have been well
established in the literature: (1) low-intensity non-thermal EMF enhances cytotoxic free
radicals via the iron-mediated Fenton reaction; and (2) cancer cells have higher amounts of
free iron, thus are more susceptible to the cytotoxic effects of EMF. Since normal cells contain
minimal amount of free iron, the effect would be selectively targeting cancer cells. Thus, no
adverse side effect would be expected as in traditional chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
This concept has also been tested on human cancer cell and normal cells in vitro and proved to
be feasible.
