近日，据英国《每日邮报》报道，一组来自瑞士、法国、巴西和美国的科学家在《英国癌症杂志》British Journal of Cancer 发表论文“Cancer cell proliferation is inhibited by specific modulation frequencies，”文中称，低频电磁场在治疗癌变肿瘤方面有着惊人的效果。这一研究成果或许能把癌症从不治之症的名单上抹掉。
在这项研究过程中，参与临床试验的病人口中含着一个调羹状的天线，天线随之把电磁场传入病患体内。经过3周的治疗后，一小部分病人的情况明显改善——肿瘤体积或者缩小，或者不再增大；与此同时，癌变组织周围的健康细胞也未受到影响。
研究发现，频率在0.1赫兹到114千赫的低频电磁场能够抑制一小部分患者体内恶性肿瘤的生长。据悉，不同癌症对应着不同的频率。不过，科学家们表示，此项研究仍处于初级阶段，他们将在未来几年中进行进一步研究。
对此，参与这项研究的亚拉巴马大学伯明翰分校的鲍里斯·帕斯教授指出，这种治疗方式能够长期进行，并且可以与其他治疗方式搭配使用。目前，帕斯教授已经获得美国食品药品监督管理局的批准，能够对大量癌症患者进行临床试验。同时，为了筹措下一步研究经费，他还在其他国家来回奔走。
《英国癌症杂志》的报道中并没有对低频电磁场能够治疗癌症的具体原理予以说明。不过，低频电磁场能够治疗癌症的研究结果同目前存在的一些说法相矛盾——即手机和输电塔等电子技术能够引发癌症和白血病。对此，帕斯坚称他在试验中使用的电磁场频率比手机释放出的电磁频率低100到1000倍。
英国癌症研究中心的埃莉诺·巴里对这项研究结果表示欢迎。她在接受采访时说：“这项研究表明，在实验室中，特定频率的低频电磁场在减缓癌症发展方面是有效的。目前我们仍未查明癌细胞对低频电磁场做出此种反应的原因所在，也不清楚这种方法是否能够对病患有所帮助。不过，这是研究人员努力尝试开发新办法、在抑制癌细胞的同时又不使健康细胞受损的一个生动例子。”（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1038/bjc.2011.523
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PMID:
Cancer cell proliferation is inhibited by specific modulation frequencies
J W Zimmerman, M J Pennison, I Brezovich, N Yi, C T Yang, R Ramaker, D Absher, R M Myers, N Kuster, F P Costa, A Barbault and B Pasche
Background: There is clinical evidence that very low and safe levels of amplitude-modulated electromagnetic fields administered via an intrabuccal spoon-shaped probe may elicit therapeutic responses in patients with cancer. However, there is no known mechanism explaining the anti-proliferative effect of very low intensity electromagnetic fields. Methods: To understand the mechanism of this novel approach, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells were exposed to 27.12 MHz radiofrequency electromagnetic fields using in vitro exposure systems designed to replicate in vivo conditions. Cancer cells were exposed to tumour-specific modulation frequencies, previously identified by biofeedback methods in patients with a diagnosis of cancer. Control modulation frequencies consisted of randomly chosen modulation frequencies within the same 100 Hz–21 kHz range as cancer-specific frequencies. Results: The growth of HCC and breast cancer cells was significantly decreased by HCC-specific and breast cancer-specific modulation frequencies, respectively. However, the same frequencies did not affect proliferation of nonmalignant hepatocytes or breast epithelial cells. Inhibition of HCC cell proliferation was associated with downregulation of XCL2 and PLP2. Furthermore, HCC-specific modulation frequencies disrupted the mitotic spindle. Conclusion: These findings uncover a novel mechanism controlling the growth of cancer cells at specific modulation frequencies without affecting normal tissues, which may have broad implications in oncology
