Taurine enhances anticancer activity of cisplatin in human cervical cancer cells.

Taurine is a nonessential amino acid and has a variety of physiological and pharmacological effects. Recently, protective effects of taurine against anticancer drugs on normal cells were investigated. But anticancer effects of taurine on cancer cells remain poorly understood. Therefore, we investigated the anticancer effects of taurine alone and combination of cisplatin with taurine in human cervical cancer cells. Single treatment of taurine decreased cell proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In co-treatment of cisplatin with taurine, cell proliferation was more decreased than single treatment of cisplatin. Reduced cell proliferation was caused by apoptosis induction. Thus, after treatment of cisplatin with taurine, apoptotic cells were investigated. Apoptotic cells were increased more than taurine or cisplatin alone. Induction of apoptosis was related to p53 expression and activation of caspase-3, caspase-6, caspase-7, and caspase-9. In present study, the results indicated that co-treatment of cisplatin with taurine was more effective than single treatment of cisplatin.