Authors: Su, Z.; Pich-Bavastro C.; Fratini, E.; Mancuso, M. ; Gaide, O.
54th European Society for Dermatological Research annual meeting 2025, 10 September 2025.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jid.2025.10.131
Abstract
As part of the European SEAWave research consortium, we study 5G emissions used for mobiles phones and internet of things on your body. Our work focuses on investigating their effects on human skin (SEAWave-Clin study) and mice. Participants’ inner arms, including healthy volunteers and patients with dermatoporosis, skin-cancer-prone syndromes, or atopic dermatitis, are exposed in a double-blind manner to either a sham-control or 5G FR2 28.5 GHz at 20W/m2 for 20 minutes. Biopsies are taken 1h and 24h post-exposure on each arm. Using our well optimized single-cell RNA sequencing protocol on fixed skin biopsies, we analyze transcriptomic changes induced by 5G FR2 waves. Mice exposure used the same 20W/m2 flux, but was more extensive: full body irradiation, 23 hours per day, for either 21 or 100 consecutive days. In human skin, our refined protocol detects all expected cell types in fixed skin samples of healthy volunteers and identify thousands of differentially expressed genes when comparing men and women, as well as 24h vs. 1h-biopsies, serving as positive control comparisons. Additionally, we detected some genes deregulated by 5G. The 5G-modified gene expression of inflammatory genes and transcription factors may be of interest; however, these changes are weaker than those induced between the two time-point biopsies (wound healing) and were not observed in mice. Murine chronic exposure upregulated some inflammatory genes in Ptch1-/+ and WT females and males after 3 weeks but not after 100 days. In CarS mice, 5G did not induce or worsen tumor formation. These changes were not observed in human skin. This may be due to the difference in exposure parameters. Our latest data indicate that 5G FR2 has very limited impact on murine and human skin. Results from atopic dermatitis and cancer patients are being collected, and the 6-month mouse exposure is ongoing.