Scientists in Japan have identified an enzyme which appears to suppress breast cancer. They hope it will spur new therapies to control the second most common cancer in the world. In 2005, it killed 502,000 people worldwide.

In an article published in Nature Cell Biology, the scientists said they injected two kinds of human breast cancer cells into mice. One set carried the CHIP enzyme and the other was without the chemical.

Tumors in the first group of mice with the CHIP enzyme were far smaller than the one without the enzyme, Junn Yanagisawa at the University of Tsukuba’s Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences in Japan told Reuters.

The same results were seen in a parallel experiment using a more aggressive line of human breast cancer cells, he added.

“Our conclusion is that we have found that CHIP protein prevents breast tumor growth and metastasis,” Yanagisawa said. Read more…