Domestic scientists have discovered a factor that promotes the metastasis of breast cancer.
 
A team led by Dr. Han Young-hoon at the Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences found that a microRNA codenamed miR-5003-3p stimulates the spread of breast cancer by suppressing the protein MDM2, which functions as a cancer inhibitor. MicroRNAs are a controller of gene expressions in cells.

Dr. Han said that if a drug that suppresses the microRNA is developed, it will effectively curtail the spread of breast cancer.
 
The discovery was published in the March edition of the international academic journal, the Journal of Molecular Cell Biology.