By: Kerri Fitzgerald
Taurine, an ingredient found in popular energy beverages like Red Bull, may promote leukemogenesis, according to findings published in Nature by Sonali Sharma, PhD, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and colleagues.
The researchers used temporal single-cell RNA-sequencing to define the changing landscape of the nonimmune cancer microenvironment with disease progression and to identify unique signals that promote disease progression.
The study showed that taurine fuels cancer cell growth and blocking taurine access in mouse models with transplanted leukemia cells from humans or mice suppressed cancer growth.
“Our work establishes the temporal landscape of stromal signals during leukemia progression and identifies taurine as a key regulator of myeloid malignancies,” the authors noted.
“As taurine is a common ingredient in energy drinks, and is often provided as a supplement to mitigate the side-effects of chemotherapy, our work suggests that it may be of interest to carefully consider the benefits of supplemental taurine in patients with leukemia,” the researchers concluded.
Further investigation is needed inform future recommendations from these findings.
Reference
Sharma S, Rodems BJ, Baker CD, et al. Taurine from tumour niche drives glycolysis to promote leukaemogenesis. Nature. 2025. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09018-7
