Modulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response in cancerous and noncancerous cells.

Objectives: The bio-field array is a device that generates a dielectrophoretic electromagnetic field when placed in a hypotonic saline solution and a direct current of approximately 3 A is applied. It is known that cell physiology is guided by bioelectrical properties, and there is a significant growth inhibition in cancerous (MDA-MB-231) cells that are grown in media that has been reconstituted with the saline that has been exposed to the bio-field array direct current dielectrophoretic electromagnetic field, alternatively there is no growth inhibition noted in noncancerous cells (MCF-10A) when grown in the bio-field array direct current dielectrophoretic electromagnetic field treated versus control media.

Methods: To examine the basis for selective growth inhibition in human breast carcinoma, we employed cell death assays, cell cycle assays, microarray analysis and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction.