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. 2025 Mar;197(3):1516-1533.
doi: 10.1007/s12010-024-05094-z. Epub 2024 Nov 25.

Effect of Caffeic Acid and a Static Magnetic Field on Human Fibroblasts at the Molecular Level - Next-generation Sequencing Analysis

Magdalena Kimsa-Dudek  1 , Celina Kruszniewska-Rajs  2 , Agata Krawczyk  3 , Anna Grzegorczyk  2 , Agnieszka Synowiec-Wojtarowicz  3 , Joanna Gola  2
Affiliations

Effect of Caffeic Acid and a Static Magnetic Field on Human Fibroblasts at the Molecular Level - Next-generation Sequencing Analysis

Magdalena Kimsa-Dudek et al. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Due to their properties, numerous polyphenols and a static magnetic field could have therapeutic potential. Therefore, the aim of our research was to investigate the effect of caffeic acid (CA), a moderate-strength static magnetic field (SMF) and their simultaneous action on human fibroblasts in order to determine the molecular pathways they affect, which might contribute to their potential use in therapeutic strategies. The research was conducted using normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF cells) that had been treated with caffeic acid at a concentration of 1 mmol/L and then exposed to a moderate-strength static magnetic field. The RNA that had been extracted from the collected cells was used as a template for next-generation sequencing (NGS) and an RT-qPCR reaction. We identified a total of 1,006 differentially expressed genes between CA-treated and control cells. Exposure of cells to a SMF altered the expression of only 99 genes. Simultaneous exposure to both factors affected the expression of 953 genes. It has also been shown that these genes mainly participate in cellular processes, including apoptosis. The highest fold change value were observed for HSPA6 and HSPA7 genes. In conclusion, the results of our research enabled the modulators, primarily caffeic acid and to a lesser extent a static magnetic field, of the apoptosis signaling pathway in human fibroblasts to be identified and to propose a mechanism of their action, which might be useful in the development of new preventive and/or therapeutic strategies. However, more research using other cell lines is needed including cancer cells.

Keywords: Apoptosis; Caffeic acid; Fibroblasts; Next-generation sequencing; Static magnetic field.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical Approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Competing Interests: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
MDS plot that visualizes the level of the similarity of the transcriptome profiles of the control human fibroblasts (C) and the fibroblasts after exposure to a static magnetic field (Phis), caffeic acid (Chem) and both factors simultaneously (Mix)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Counts of the differentially expressed genes in the human fibroblasts after exposure to a static magnetic field (Phis) and caffeic acid (Chem) and both factors simultaneously (Mix)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Counts of the common differentially expressed genes in the human fibroblasts after exposure to a static magnetic field (Phis) and caffeic acid (Chem) and both factors simultaneously (Mix)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Subgroups of the common DEGs (a), the DEGs in the CA-treated cells (b), the DEGs in the SMF-exposed cells (c) and the DEGs in the cells that had been exposed to an SMF and simultaneously treated with CA (d) that are associated with the biological processes and the subcategories of the cellular process that were selected using the Panther 13.1 program
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Expression of the genes encoding the heat shock proteins that were determined using RNA-Seq
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Expression of the genes encoding the heat shock proteins determined using the RT-qPCR technique
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