As taurine fuels leukemia, it may also affect bone health, researchers report.
In a study last year, researchers discovered that taurine, available in energy drinks and as a supplement, feeds the growth of leukemia stem cells.
A new study expands that work and suggests that as taurine fuels leukemia, it becomes less available for other normal cells and may result in weaker bones in mice.
Many cancer patients have reduced bone density and struggle with osteoporosis and osteopenia—and researchers speculate that lack of taurine uptake may be involved.
“It appears that leukemia cells and bone-producing cells have dual requirements for taurine,” explains senior author Jeevisha Bajaj.
“If leukemia cells are rapidly using taurine and thus depleting levels of taurine in the bone marrow, it could explain why other cells that also rely on taurine for bone strength are coming up short.”
The journal Cell Death & Disease published the latest paper focusing on bone health. Bajaj also led the 2025 leukemia study, which appears in the journal Nature.
Taurine is an amino acid made naturally in the body. Individuals also consume taurine in foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and in energy drinks and supplements. Although more research is needed, taurine has been linked to benefits and potential drawbacks for overall health. In the context of leukemia, taurine may be harmful.
Bajaj encourages people with cancer to speak with their oncologists before using any supplements, and to be cautious about taking taurine.
The bone marrow microenvironment is key to the latest research from the Bajaj lab, and has been a longtime focus of scientists who are members of the University of Rochester’s Wilmot Cancer Institute’s Cancer Microenvironment (CM) research program.
Not only do many types of cancer, including leukemia, develop in the bone marrow, but the interactions and signaling between all cells and tissues in the bone marrow environment are critical for normal bone and blood development, while also supporting cancer. Researchers have shown they can manipulate signals and genes in the microenvironment to improve cancer outcomes.
PhD candidate Christina M. Kaszuba, a student in the University of Rochester biomedical engineering graduate program, led this project. She works exclusively in the Bajaj lab studying cells and components of the bone that contribute to cancer development, with the goal of finding new cancer drugs.
While the lab members were investigating leukemia, they made an interesting observation, Kaszuba says.
“We noticed that the bones in mice lacking the ability to take up taurine looked weaker and were brittle,” she says. “This motivated us to study what could be happening to the bones and bone-forming cells in the absence of taurine in normal, non-cancer mouse models.”
Kaszuba focused on mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), which evolve into bone and cartilage and are responsible for the continual renewal and repair of bone. They analyzed RNA gene expression data from mice and confirmed that a taurine transporter gene is in fact enriched in MSCs.
Next, they studied what happens when mice lose the taurine transporter gene and discovered that MSCs show defects in becoming mature bone cells, thus impacting bone growth and strength—identifying taurine as a key regulator of MSCs and the fate of bone development.
More investigation will help to understand the dynamics of taurine uptake in the bone marrow and the impact of blocking taurine to suppress leukemia growth versus supplementing taurine to support bone repair.
Their present work, along with Bajaj’s earlier study on leukemia, indicates that complex interactions and dietary factors are necessary for overall health.
“These can be hijacked by cancers for their own growth,” Bajaj says, “and thus contribute to side effects often seen in cancer patients.”
The National Institutes of Health funded the research.
Source: University of Rochester
