Moderate intensity static magnetic fields affect mitotic spindles and increase the antitumor efficacy of 5-FU and Taxol.

Microtubules are the fundamental components in mitotic spindle, which plays essential roles in cell division. It was well known that purified microtubules could be affected by static magnetic fields (SMFs) in vitro because of the diamagnetic anisotropy of tubulin. However, whether these effects lead to cell division defects was unknown. Here we find that 1T SMFs induce abnormal mitotic spindles and increase mitotic index. Synchronization experiments show that SMFs delay cell exit from mitosis and cause mitotic arrest. These mimic the cellular effects of a microtubule-targeting drug Paclitaxel (Taxol), which is frequently used in combination with 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) and Cisplatin in cancer treatment. Using four different human cancer cell lines, HeLa, HCT116, CNE-2Z and MCF7, we find that SMFs increase the antitumor efficacy of 5-FU or 5-FU/Taxol, but not Cisplatin, which indicates that the SMF-induced combinational effects with chemodrugs are drug-specific. Our study not only reveals the effect of SMFs on microtubules to cause abnormal mitotic spindles and delay cells exit from mitosis, but also implies the potential applications of SMFs in combination with chemotherapy drugs 5-FU or 5-FU/Taxol, but not with Cisplatin in cancer treatment.