Effect of taurine on the proliferation, apoptosis and MST1/Hippo signaling in prostate cancer cells

BACKGROUND: To investigate the effects of taurine on prostate cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis, and on the mammalian sterilization of a 20-like kinase-1 (MST1)/Hippo signaling pathway. METHODS: The prostate cancer DU145 cell line was selected and the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method was used to determine the rate of inhibition by taurine on the proliferation of the cells at 1, 10(−1), 10(−2), 10(−3), 10(−4), 10(−5) and 10(−6) mg/mL to obtain the taurine intervention concentrations. The cultured cells were divided into three groups: the blank group was cultured with conventional culture medium, the positive control group was cultured with 2 mg/mL cisplatin, and the taurine group was cultured with the determined taurine intervention concentrations of 0.003 mg/mL as low, 0.03 mg/mL as medium and 0.3 mg/mL as high concentration. After 72 h incubation, cell proliferation, apoptosis and cellular MST1/Hippo signaling pathway protein expression were observed. RESULTS: In the comparison of cell proliferation rate, the taurine group was lower than the positive control group and the blank group (P<0.05), the cell proliferation rate of different concentrations in the taurine group decreased with the increase of concentration (P<0.05). The apoptosis rate was higher in the taurine group than in the positive control group and the blank group (P<0.05), the apoptosis rate increased with increasing concentration in the taurine group (P<0.05). The expression of MST1 and Bax was higher in the taurine group than in the positive control group and the blank group (P<0.05), the expression of MST1 and Bax increased with increasing concentration in the taurine group (P<0.05). The expression of YAP and Bcl-2 was lower in the taurine group than in the positive control group and the blank group (P<0.05), the expression of YAP and Bcl-2 decreased with increasing concentration in the taurine group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Taurine promoted apoptosis and inhibited proliferation of prostate cancer cells, and its mechanism of action may be related to the MST1/Hippo signaling pathway in a dose-dependent manner.