A team of domestic scientists has discovered a mechanism to control a tumor suppressing gene that may pave the way for the development of a new cancer drug.

According to the team lead by medical professor Youn Hong-duk at Seoul National University, a study on the mechanism of the tumor suppressor “p53” showed the role the protein calcineurin-binding 1, or Cabin1, plays in restraining cancer.

The protein links with tumor suppressing genes under normal conditions. It then swiftly divides to activate tumor suppressors in the case of abnormalities in cancer cells.

The study appears in the August tenth edition of the Nature Structural & Molecular Biology journal.