国际英语新闻:Team led by Slovak scientist close to cure breast cancer

BRATISLAVA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Slovak scientist Rastislav Tamaskovic heads a team that could well have found a cure for breast cancer, reported Slovak daily Pravda on Monday.

"Until now, certain medicines have been able to stop breast cancer in its tracks, but the cancer cells are in fact only 'asleep' and could potentially 'wake up' again. The new drug has been shown to destroy cancer cells and to prevent the disease from returning, which is especially important for patients in which the disease has advanced to the later stages," explained Tamaskovic for Slovak daily.

A Swiss team led by the Slovak scientist appears to have found a weakness in the disease, which raises the hope that this form of cancer can be dealt with definitively.

According to the report, the breakthrough is important for Slovakia where breast cancer occurs very frequently. More than 2,000 new cases are recorded every year. Meanwhile, around two million new cases are reported around the world annually.

"The new medicine has proven to be effective on mice, and the first tests on humans are due to begin by the end of this year," added Tamaskovic.

Tamaskovic's team is based at the Biochemistry Institute at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. The results of the research have been published in the Nature Communications journal.