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" Scientists have discovered the reason why cancer cells spread through the body. Researchers at the Marie Curie Institute in Surrey have said that they now know how malignant melanoma spreads to other organs in the body and that the discovery could help them understand how other types of cancer spread. Up to 150,000 people die every year from cancer spreading, or metastasizing, in the body. Speaking on BBC Radio 4&amp;#039;s Tody programme, head of the research team Dr Colin Goding, said: &amp;quot;What we&amp;#039;ve found is that there&amp;#039;s a switching mechanism inside the melanoma cells that&amp;#039;s controlled by a gene called MITF and it&amp;#039;s the levels of activity of MITF that determine whether the cell is actually dividing, proliferating, forming a tumour, or whether it goes into a non-dividing state, which becomes highly invasive.&amp;quot; The discovery surprised the researchers as previously they had assumed that the dividing cells would be the invasive ones, not the non-dividing type, Dr Goding added. Cancer is initially caused by mutator genes which make the cells divide uncontrollably. According to Dr Goding, chemotherapy traditionally targets the dividing cells, however scientists must now find a way to also deal with the non-dividing cells. In 2004 there were 153,397 deaths from cancer in the UK, figures from the charity Cancer Research show. \u00A9 Adfero Ltd "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a14657/scientists-uncover-new-facts-on-spread-of-cancer-cells/>