Scientists discovered that there are three proteins capable of unleashing a natural killing mechanism when modified during mitosis or cancer cell division.

According to the American Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU), a team lead by Prof. Malaca Cohen Armon of TAU's Sackler School of Medicine found that the exclusive mechanism developed while modifying certain proteins can kill cancer cells without impairing healthy cells. This could mean chemotherapy may no longer be needed.

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Moreover, the mechanism works on a variety of rapidly proliferating human cells. In fact, the team found that the faster cancer cells proliferate, the faster and more efficiently they will be eradicated.

The conclusion was drawn from various laboratory experiments involving cell cultures from a variety of incurable human cancer types - breast, lung, ovary, colon, pancreas, blood, and brain. The team also conducted tests of mice transplanted with human cancer cells.

To observe the mechanism, the team harnessed biochemical, molecular, and imaging technologies.

Moving forward, the team hopes to see a variety of additional drugs capable of modifying these specific proteins being developed to induce cancer cells to self-destruct during cell division.

According to their study, certain compounds called Phenanthridine derivatives, for instance, have the ability to impair the activity of these proteins, resulting in a distortion of the spindle structure and prevention of the segregation of chromosomes. The cells were prevented from splitting upon the modification of proteins, resulting in its rapid self-destruction. 

Cancer claims the lives of over 250,000 Americans annually, data from the Public Health show. The top four cancer killers are breast, prostate, lung, and colon/rectum.

On the positive note, the agency said that while the cancer rates continue to rise in the U.S., mortality rates are declining. In fact, the number of people dying from cancer declined steadily since the early 1990s. The mortality rate of cancer has dropped by 20 percent since its peak in 1991.