Gene link to spread of cancer

US researchers have pinpointed a gene that promotes the spread of cancer through the body.

Scientists at Georgetown University in Washington DC, US, have now found that an important key to cancer spreading is a gene called cyclin D1.

Cyclin D1 is one of a number of genes involved in the cell cycle - the mechanism through which cells to grow and divide.

Death from cancer is most often due to the disease moving from its original site to vulnerable parts of the body such as the brain or liver.

The team found that "knocking out" the gene halted the migration of cells in laboratory tests.

Dr Richard Pestell, director of the university's Lombardi Cancer Centre, who has studied the gene and the protein it produces for a decade, said: "Patients who do not survive their cancer, often don't die from their primary cancer, usually they die from the spread of the disease through the body.

"If we can understand what causes the metastasis, then we can pinpoint new targets to block the spread of disease."

Death from cancer is most often due to the disease moving from its original site to vulnerable parts of the body such as the brain or liver.

The migration of cancer around the body is known as metastasis. Cancer cells move through the blood stream or lymph system and start proliferating in other areas.

Whether or not metastasis occurs depends on many factors, including the type of cancer, the stage it is at, and its original location.