Domestic researchers have discovered a protein that can inhibit the growth of colon cancer in humans.

A joint team from Seoul National Univeristy and Sookmyung Women's University said Sunday that if the retinoid-related orphan receptor alpha, or the "ROR alpha" protein, is comibined with phosphoric acid, it suppress the activities of a protein that helps the growth of tumor cells in colon cancer patients.

The team said the ROR alpha phosphorylation found in the cells of healthy people was 70 percent higher than that in the tumor cells of colon cancer patients.

The findings appear in Molecular Cell magazine.