title: Mechanism of taurine-induced apoptosis in human colon cancer cells.
abstract: Taurine (Tau) has been shown to possess cancer therapeutic effect through induction of apoptosis, while the underlying molecular mechanism of its anti-cancer effect is not well understood. PUMA (p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis) plays an important role in the process of apoptosis induction in a variety of human tumor cells in both p53-dependent and -independent manners. However, whether PUMA is involved in the process of Tau-induced apoptosis in cancer cells has not been well studied. In the present study, we treated human colorectal cancer cells HT-29 (mutant p53) and LoVo (wild-type p53) with different concentrations of Tau, which led to the repression of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis in both cell lines. Meanwhile, we also observed the increased expression of PUMA and high Bax/Bcl-2 ratios. To determine the role of PUMA in Tau-induced apoptosis, we used small interfering RNA interference to suppress PUMA expression. As a result, apoptosis was decreased in response to Tau treatment. All these results indicated that PUMA plays a critical role in Tau-induced apoptosis pathway in human colorectal cancer cells. Demonstration of the molecular mechanism involved in the anti-tumor effect of Tau may be useful in the therapeutic target selection for p53-deficient colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Animal Science, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China.
authors.forename: Xiali
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Yibing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Baohua
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Fusheng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wan
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D017931:DNA Primers; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D019073:HT29 Cells; D006801:Humans; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013654:Taurine / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; C438378:BBC3 protein, human; D017931:DNA Primers; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D013654:Taurine
keywords: PUMA; human colon cancer cell; taurine