Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University have identified a new anti-tumor gene called SARI that can interact with and suppress a key protein that is overexpressed in 90 percent of human cancers.

"The discovery could one day lead to an effective gene therapy for cancer," the university said Tuesday in a statement.

SARI was found to suppress growth and survival of tumor cells by interfering with the action of cancer cell molecules that drive cell division and promote survival.

The researchers delivered SARI to cancer cells using a virus and the infected cancer cells subsequently stopped dividing and died.

Since 90 percent of all cancer types rely on a similar mechanism to proliferate and evade destruction, they noted that SARI could be an effective anti-cancer treatment for many tumors.

The team is now developing improved approaches to more effectively target the delivery of SARI. These studies will be crucial for exploiting the cancer-selective killing activity of this gene and enhancing its therapeutic applications, said the authors.