Influence of the in vitro effect of electromagnetic radiation from a mobile phone on the antigen-specific activity of blood T-lymphocytes in people who have had COVID-19

Introduction. The immune system is one of the objects most sensitive to the effects of the electromagnetic fields. At the same time, the opinion that the effect of radio frequency EMR on cells, tissues, and systems of living organisms is shown at the present stage as distinct and significant is not generally accepted.

The aim of the work was to study the effect of EMR on the activity of immune memory T cells against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in vitro when using an irradiation regime corresponding to the usual use of a mobile phone.

Materials and methods. The test equipment is a mobile phone with parameters: SAR for the body 1.18 W/kg, for the head 1.25 W/kg, the maximum possible number of functions (bluetooth, WiFi) are connected to the phone.

The object of the research was blood samples from forty six people who had suffered from COVID-19 (22 people were ill from November 2020 to July 2021 and 24 were ill from December 2022 to March 2023).

Polystyrene plates from the SARS-CoV-2-IgG-ELISA test systems were used for antigenic stimulation (produced by JSC Vector-Best, Russia). To assess the effect of mobile phone EMR, each cell sample (intact or AG-stimulated) was divided into 2 portions. One portion was incubated for 4 hours in the presence of an EMP mobile phone, the second without it. Next, the concentration of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) in the filler fluid was determined by the ELISA method on test systems from the same company.

Results. The effect of EMR has been shown to be expressed in a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the activity of memory T cells, which, after exposure to EMR, produce IFN-γ weaker during antigen recognition. Only in 4 out of 46 patients, increased activity of memory T cells was detected during antigenic stimulation of lymphocytes in the presence of mobile phone EMR. The average decrease in IFN-γ production was 151.3 ± 80.8 pg/ml or 66.6 ± 11.4% of the baseline level of antigen-stimulated IFN-γ production by patient lymphocytes.

Limitations: the use of an in vitro approach.

Conclusion. Further investigation of the effect of electromagnetic radiation from a mobile phone on AG-induced lymphocyte activity in people who have suffered from COVID-19 will determine whether the hypersensitivity of AG-specific cells to EMR is associated with impaired immune regulation due to the disease, or EMR can adversly affect AG-specific T cells in healthy people.

Compliance with ethical standards. All T-donors gave informed consent to participate in the study, approved by the Ethics Committee of the G.N. Gabrichevsky Moscow Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology (Protocol No. 41 dated 12/10/2020).

Contribution:
Kapustin I.V. – analysis of experimental data, design of illustrations;
Tulskaya E.A. – literature data analysis, database maintenance;
Blyakher M.S. – research concept and design, editing;
Sandalova S.V. – literature data analysis, material collection;
Odintsov E.E. – material collection, editing;
Koteleva S.I. – cultural research, text writing;
Ramazanova Z.K. – collection of material;
Fedorova I.M. – statistical processing, text writing.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Funding. The study had no sponsorship.

Received: April 2, 2025 / Revised: November 24, 2025 / Accepted: March 24, 2026 / Published: May 18, 2026

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