The antibacterial drug taurolidine induces apoptosis by a mitochondrial cytochrome c-dependent mechanism.

The antibacterial agent taurolidine (TRD) has been used as a lavage antibiotic to prevent development of peritonitis in patients after surgery. We recently showed that TRD induced growth arrest and apoptosis of a variety of cultured cell lines derived from human solid tumors and also significantly inhibited the growth of human ovarian tumors in a mouse model. In this report, we present data to show that TRD, at concentrations below the doses that are used to treat patients in the clinic, induces apoptosis of human leukemia HL-60 cells by a mitochondrial cytochrome c-dependent pathway.