U. S. researchers have said that a prostate cancer cell protein, Stat5, might be key to the cancer's spread.

It has been reported that researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia found Stat5, a protein already found to play a role in prostate cancer survival, also helped spread the disease to other parts of the body by rearranging prostate cancer cell structure and suppressing proteins binding cells to one another.

Published in Endocrine-Related Cancer, the study, not only found nuclear Stat5 led to prostate cancer spread in the laboratory and but also in an animal model. They found human prostate cancer cells that over-expressed Stat5 readily spread to the lungs when injected into mice.

Study researcher Dr. Marja Nevalainen said in a statement, "Until now, we thought that Stat5 was involved in primarily promoting tumor growth, but this study indicates it could be one of the key players in pushing prostate cancer to spread." (With Inputs from Agencies)