A team of researchers said that they have found a new way through which they can potentially reprogram cancer cells back to normal. Researchers also said that there are higher possibilities that they can force tumor cells to morph back to the normal cells which they once used to be.

Study’s senior author PanosAnastasiadis, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Cancer Biology on Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus said in a statement that the findings of the study represents an unexpected new biology that provides the code, the software for stopping the growth of cancer.

He also told that the code was unraveled by the discovery that adhesion proteins, the glue that keeps cells together, interact with the microprocessor, a key player in the production of molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs).

As per study experts, the miRNAs orchestrate whole cellular programs by simultaneously regulating expression of a group of genes.

Researchers found that when normal cells come in contract with each other, a specific subset of miRNAs suppresses genes that promote cell growth. Furthermore, they found that when the adhesion is disrupted in cancer cells, these miRNAs are misregulated and cells grow out of control.

The study researchers through their lab experiments showed that restoring the normal miRNA levels in cancer cells can reverse the unusual cell growth.

Study’s lead author AntonisKourtidis, Ph.D., a research associate in Dr. Anastasiadis’ lab said, “Most significantly, it uncovers new strategy for cancer therapy. However, we and other researchers had found that this hypothesis didn’t seem to be true, since both E-cadherin and p120 are still present in tumor cells and required for their progression”.