In a new study, published in the journal Nature, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center said that they identified taurine, which is made naturally in the body and consumed through some foods, as a key regulator of myeloid cancers such as leukemia.
The Wilmot Cancer Institute investigators at the University of Rochester were able to block the growth of leukemia in mouse models and in human leukemia cell samples by using genetic tools to prevent taurine from entering cancer cells.
Led by Jeevisha Bajaj, PhD, the research team discovered that taurine is produced by a subset of normal cells in the bone marrow microenvironment, the tissue inside bones where myeloid cancers begin and expand. Leukemia cells are unable to make taurine themselves, so they rely on a taurine transporter (encoded by the SLC6A6 gene) to grab taurine from the bone marrow environment and deliver it to the cancer cells.
According to the Natural Products Association (NPA), taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid, has been extensively studied for decades. Numerous government health authorities around the world have well-established safety profiles for it. These authorities have consistently found no adverse effects at daily intake levels ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 mg, and in some cases, even higher amounts have been deemed safe.
“This latest study does absolutely nothing to change the well-documented safety record of taurine,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD, NPA president and CEO. “Taurine plays a critical role in bone health and the function of bone marrow stem cells. While the media and the authors are unabashedly and irresponsibly positioning the study that dietary intake of taurine leads to leukemia, nothing could be further from the truth. That would be the equivalent of saying that the cure to all degenerative diseases is never to drink water, or breathe oxygen again, because water and oxygen are a co-factor in all degenerative diseases.
“The research is looking at isolated cell signaling, applying that broadly to all supplemental or energy drink intake is plain irresponsible and appears to be a scare tactic to generate funding and media attention,” added Fabricant. “If the study didn’t mention supplements, it’s unlikely anyone outside of a research lab would have even noticed it. This is not a human safety study. It is a laboratory study and should be treated as such.”
For more information, visit www.npanational.org.
