Could a Supplement Fuel Leukemia Cell Growth?

A new scientific study published in Nature Journals offers insight into how leukemia cells grow, specifically pointing to taurine, an amino acid found naturally in the body and some foods, as a possible contributor. In this article, you’ll learn what taurine is, how it affects leukemia cells, and why understanding its role in the bone marrow may be important for future therapies.

What is Taurine’s Role In Leukemia?  

Taurine is a non-essential amino acid, meaning the body can produce it on its own. It’s also present in meat, fish, eggs, and some energy drinks and protein supplements. Taurine supports functions in the heart, brain, muscles, and bone marrow.

Researchers from the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester found that taurine may play a much more specific role in leukemia and blood cancers. Their study shows that leukemia cells cannot produce taurine on their own. Instead, they absorb it from the bone marrow microenvironment. 

Researchers used genetic tools to block the taurine transporter in mouse models and human leukemia cell samples. This stopped the leukemia cells from growing. This discovery highlights a new way to target cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. This can help develop new therapies that stop taurine from reaching these cancer cells, which could help slow disease progression.

Taurine May Interact With Other Blood Cancer Types

This research focused on different subtypes of myeloid cancers, including:

• Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
• Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)
• Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)

All of these start in blood-forming stem cells in the bone marrow. The study found that the taurine transporter is essential across these types, meaning this mechanism may be relevant for new the development of new therapies. 

Taurine Supplements May Not Be Safe for Everyone

Taurine is widely available in supplements and energy drinks, and some cancer patients use it to manage side effects of therapy. However, based on this new data, Dr. Jane Liesveld, a leukemia expert and study co-author, cautions that high-dose taurine could actually be feeding cancer cell growth in the bone marrow.

If you are considering or already using taurine supplements, you can talk more about this with your healthcare team to determine if you are benefiting from taurine supplementation or if you could use an alternative. While taurine has been explored for benefits in other cancers, such as stomach cancer, its effects in leukemia appear to differ and may require more careful evaluation.

What’s Next 

Dr. Jeevisha Bajaj, lead investigator of this study, emphasized the need to study taurine levels in people with leukemia to better understand its role. The team’s current data supports developing treatments that block taurine uptake in cancer cells. This research could help shape safer and more effective therapies by cutting off a key nutrient that leukemia cells depend on.

Learning more about the role of supplements in their specific cancer type can help patients make informed decisions about their health, and further improving their outcomes. You can learn more about research news and treatment advances in our HealthTree News site. 

READ MORE ARTICLES

Sources: 

• Taurine from tumour niche drives glycolysis to promote leukaemogenesis
• A Downside of Taurine: It Drives Leukemia Growth