SCIENTISTS at a British cancer research centre have managed to isolate an enzyme which, when blocked, stops breast cancer from spreading to other areas of the body.

In what could be a major breakthrough, researchers at the Institute of Cancer Research said they had identified a way of blocking the LOXL2 enzyme, which had stopped the spread of cancer in laboratory mice.

Their findings, published in the Cancer Research journal, were “highly likely” to have applications in the treatment of cancer in humans, the BBC reported, with almost 90 per cent of cancer deaths coming when cancer spreads from one organ to another.

Dr Janine Erier, who led the research team, told PA that the findings showed “inhibiting the action of LOXL2 can significantly reduce the spread of LOXL2 breast cancer, suggesting that drugs which block this enzyme may be effective in preventing patients’ cancer from spreading.”

LOXL2 promotes the spread of cancer through the way in which it controls two particular proteins, TIMP1 and MMP9. Previous studies had showed that those two proteins had a role to play in how other types of cancer, in the colon and oesophagus, spread.

The current study showed that blocking the spread of LOXL2 also decreased the ability of cancer to spread to the lungs, liver and bones.