Italian researchers have found a protein which regulates the formation of tumours and the accumulation of fatty tissue.
Working with test-tube mice, researchers from Milan's San Raffaele Institute identified a molecule they dubbed Eif6.
It is apparently essential for the survival of cells and could pave the way for new treatments for cancer and obesity.
''Using transgenic mice we observed that the protein is essential for life in higher organisms,'' said the San Raffaele's Stefano Biffo, coordinator of the study which also involved the Eastern Piedmont University and Chicago's Northwestern University.
Biffo said an absence of the substance prevented mice embryos from forming while mice with only half of the normal quantity of Eif6 ''were thinner and had smaller livers''.
Eif6 is also indispensable for the growth of cancer cells, said Biggo, who heads the Molecular Histology and Cell Growth Laboratory at San Raffaele.
''By halving the presence of Eif6 in the cells we reduced by 80-90% the rate at which healthy cells turned into cancerous ones''.
Biffo said the team now have two objectives:
''First we want to see if this ability to block tumour transformation takes place not only in the lab but also in living organisms.
''Then we want to see if this function can be controlled with drugs, paving the way for new cancer treatments''.
Biffo's study appears in the latest edition of the international scientific journal Nature.
