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Anti-Cancer Mechanisms of Taurine in Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells

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Taurine 11

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 1155))

Abstract

Taurine displays anti-tumor activity in some kinds of human cancers. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Epstein-Barr virus-related nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a distinctive type of head and neck cancer in Southeast Asia with the highest incidence in South China. We examined an apoptosis-inducing effect of taurine against NPC cells (HK1 and HK1-EBV) to clarify the mechanisms of anti-tumor effects of taurine by immunocytochemical methods. We observed that taurine induced cleavage of caspase-9/3 in a concentration-dependent manner, suggesting the involvement of mitochondrial apoptotic signals. Both PTEN and p53 activation were detected in a dose-dependent manner after taurine treatment in NPC cells. In conclusion, taurine may play an anti-tumor role by activating tumor suppressor PTEN and p53.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP16H05255 (MM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Molecular Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu, Mie, Japan

    Feng He, Kaoru Midorikawa, Yusuke Hiraku, Shinji Oikawa & Mariko Murata

  2. Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu, Mie, Japan

    Feng He & Kazuhiko Takeuchi

  3. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

    Feng He & Zhe Zhang

  4. Division of Health Science, Graduate School of Health Science, Suzuka University of Medical Science, Suzuka, Mie, Japan

    Ning Ma

  5. Department of Research, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China

    Yingxi Mo

Authors
  1. Feng He
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  2. Ning Ma
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  3. Kaoru Midorikawa
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  4. Yusuke Hiraku
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  5. Shinji Oikawa
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  7. Zhe Zhang
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  8. Kazuhiko Takeuchi
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  9. Mariko Murata
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mariko Murata .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China

    Jianmin Hu

  2. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, Dalian Medicine University, Dalian, Liaoning, China

    Fengyuan Piao

  3. Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA

    Stephen W. Schaffer

  4. Department of Biology, Center for Developmental Neuroscience, College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY, USA

    Abdeslem El Idrissi

  5. Department of Biomedical Science, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA

    Jang-Yen Wu

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He, F. et al. (2019). Anti-Cancer Mechanisms of Taurine in Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells. In: Hu, J., Piao, F., Schaffer, S., El Idrissi, A., Wu, JY. (eds) Taurine 11. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1155. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8023-5_49

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