Researchers at Rome's Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital and the Italian capital's Tor Vergata University, working with other European and US research centres, have discovered the missing piece of the jigsaw explaining how tumour cells proliferate, according to a study published in Nature and backed by Italian cancer research association AIRC.

The study paves the way for new treatments of many tumours in adults and children, inhibiting the defence systems of the diseased cells until they self-destruct.  The researchers have identified for the first time the relationship between two particular proteins, Ambra1 and Ciclina D, which when unbalanced triggers the tumoural process. (ANSA).