- Taurine, a typical ingredient in vitality drinks and dietary supplements, was discovered to gasoline the expansion of aggressive leukemia cells.
- Leukemia cells use a particular transporter protein to soak up taurine, and sure cells within the physique — together with these within the bones, mind, and coronary heart — are able to producing taurine naturally.
- Analysis exhibits that inhibiting taurine manufacturing or its uptake by most cancers cells slowed leukemic development, indicating a possible new remedy technique.
Plainly vitality drinks are all over the place. The U.S. vitality drink market alone grew by 73% between 2018 to 2023 and was valued at a staggering $23.9 billion in 2024. Nevertheless, a brand new research printed within the journal Nature offers compelling proof that, in sure circumstances, taurine, the widespread ingredient that offers these drinks their kick, may very well be fueling extra than simply your afternoon vitality.
In Could, researchers from the College of Rochester printed their findings on taurine and its function in driving the expansion of aggressive types of leukemia.
The group behind the research, led by researchers on the College of Rochester, found that taurine doesn’t simply get digested once you drink it or take it in dietary supplements. As an alternative, sure cells in our bones, mind, coronary heart, and muscle tissues can even actively produce it (and it’s usually present in fish and meat as nicely). In people with leukemia, taurine seems to stimulate the multiplication of most cancers cells.
To know why, it helps to know somewhat about how blood cancers like leukemia flourish within the physique. Leukemia, the Nationwide Most cancers Institute explains, usually begins with a small variety of broken stem cells within the bone marrow, which can also be the place your blood is produced. These most cancers stem cells can develop uncontrollably and hinder the physique from producing the crimson and white blood cells it wants. Moreover, this new research exhibits that these leukemia cells could also be nourished by the taurine your physique already produces.
The researchers found that as leukemia progresses, sure cells in human bone marrow start producing extra taurine, because the most cancers cells take up it by means of a particular protein generally known as TauT, which stands for taurine transporter. This taurine can help the most cancers cells in producing vitality extra effectively, probably inflicting them to develop at an accelerated price.
Nevertheless, in mouse fashions, when the researchers blocked both the manufacturing of taurine within the bone or the most cancers cells’ potential to soak up it, the expansion of leukemia slowed. The mice with leukemia lived longer, and their most cancers unfold much less rapidly, indicating a possible new pathway for treating this illness.
“We’re very enthusiastic about these research as a result of they reveal that concentrating on uptake by myeloid leukemia cells could also be a potential new avenue for remedy of those aggressive ailments,” Jeevisha Bajaj, an assistant professor within the Division of Biomedical Genetics on the College of Rochester, and lead creator of the research, shared.
It is important to grasp that this research doesn’t state or indicate that vitality drinks and dietary supplements will trigger most cancers in any manner. Nevertheless, it discovered that when the mice with leukemia got further taurine, just like what you’ll devour in vitality drinks, the most cancers progressed considerably quicker.
It is also necessary to keep in mind that taurine has been proven in early-stage research to be probably useful for folks present process chemotherapy, because it may assist mitigate unwanted effects like nausea. Moreover, different research have additionally proven that taurine couldmight have the potential to fight gastric cancers within the abdomen.
Nonetheless, the authors concluded, “Since taurine is a typical ingredient in vitality drinks and is usually supplied as a complement to mitigate the unwanted effects of chemotherapy, our work means that it might be of curiosity to fastidiously take into account the advantages of supplemental taurine in leukemia sufferers.”