The discovery might help doctors better understand the spread of cancers and could lead to improved drugs to prevent secondary tumors, which often require a new regimen of anti-cancer treatment.

In the new study, Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute scientists have found a way to copy the body's own protection system, which tries to prevent tumors from moving around the body, The Guardian reported Friday.

Reporting in the journal Molecular Cell, scientists described the mechanism by which proteins in cancer cells move, the newspaper reported.

"Our findings represent a new way to regulate a key family of proteins involved in cell crawling that will change the way researchers see current models of cell migration -- an important aspect of the spread of cancer," said study leader Dr. Michael Way.