Using a novel cell line, the Boston College team discovered one of the body's primary defensive cells plays a role in cancer's attack.

Thomas Seyfried, who led the study, said the development of a new animal model -- a line of cancer cells injected into a laboratory mouse -- displays the full spectrum of systemic metastatic cancer in humans. The finding, he said, removes a "scientific stumbling block" in advancing cancer research and potential treatments.

"What we have developed is the first model in the mouse that replicates all of the hallmarks of metastatic cancer," said Seyfried. "Now, we have a tool that can be effective in identifying basic mechanisms and new therapies to treat the disease."

The study is reported in the online version of the International Journal of Cancer and was presented Sunday in San Diego during the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research.