The Effect of Taurine, a Novel Biochemical Modulator, on the Antitumor Activity of Doxorubicin

Abstract

Taurine is contained in seafood and has been studied extensively on life-style related diseases. Theanine increased the effects of the doxorubicin (DOX) as an antitumor agent in some tumors and enhanced the DOX level in tumor cells. It is expected that the advanced effect of food uptake in cancer chemotherapy may be effective from the viewpoint of quality of life (QOL) improvement, although this approach has not been investigated in detail. In this study, the effect of taurine as a functional amino acid was examined. Taurine did not change the DOX influx into M5076 cells, whereas it significantly inhibited DOX efflux, which maintained the DOX level in tumor cells. Furthermore, experiments with taurine decreased tumor weight by 40%, compared to the DOX-alone group and significantly increased its antitumor effect. Moreover, as taurine did not increase DOX concentration in normal tissue, it is suggested that it increased the antitumor effect without enhancing DOX-induced adverse effects. DOX efflux is inhibited by β-alanine as a taurine transporter inhibitor, therefore, enhancement of the DOX level by taurine was suggested to act via taurine transport. Namely, it was clarified that taurine was useful as a modulator to enhance the therapeutic index of cancer patients and improve QOL.