Title : Hemoglobin denaturation occurs under man-made electromagnetic fields–Is there any correlation with some anemia diseases?
Abstract:
Proteins denaturation is a phenomenon that can be due to some diseases or external stresses. In particular, hemoglobin can be subjected to denaturation (unfolding) of its secondary structure due to various causes, that is represented by a decrease in intensity of the α-helix/β-sheet ratio in the Amide I and II infrared regions. Hemoglobin is a tetrameric heme-protein in erythrocytes that is responsible for binding molecular oxygen transporting bound oxygen throughout the body to be used in aerobic metabolic functions. In previous studies, hemoglobin unfolding and aggregation was found in several anemias such as in sickle cell anemia and in leukemia (Wilson et al., 1974; Tripette et al. 2009, Zandecki et al. 2007, Besa et al. 1992, His 2012).
Furthermore, some studies carried out in our laboratories provided the result that a few hours exposure of hemoglobin in water solution to man-made electromagnetic fields (EMFs) at 50 Hz EMF-1 mT (Magazù et al. 2010, Calabrò and Magazù, 2014), at 200 mT static magnetic field (Magazù et al. 2012) and 900 MHz, 1800 MHz EMFs (Calabrò and Magazù 2015, 2016) induced unfolding in the secondary structure of hemoglobin, represented by a partial transition from the α-helix component to the β-sheet feature. The evidence of aggregation phenomena in some anemia diseases leads us to consider the possibility that man-made EMFs may be a contributing factor to the onset of certain blood diseases.
Otherwise, some researchers already highlighted a possible correlation between the appearance of the peak incidence at around age 3 in childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia and proximity to power lines and, therefore, exposure to extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (Milham and Ossiander, 2001).
