Australian scientists have found a new gene that makes it possible to "switch off" triple-negative breast cancers.

The new gene is revealed in a study published in Nature Communications and is called "inhibitor of differentiation 4" or ID4 by Dr. Alex Swarbick and Dr. Simon Junankar of Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research.

ID4 is present during transformation of stem cells into specialist cells upon breast development during puberty and pregnancy. It is also drives into the formation of triple-negative breast cancer, which is an aggressive type of breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer has 15% incidence among the other types of cancers with higher risk of re-occurrence and lower rate of survival. According to the study, patients may have have 3-5 years life expectancy or may have a maximum of 8 years post diagnosis. These type of cancer cells were noted to come from stem cells instead of specialist cells which form benign cancers.

With this study, Dr. Swarbick and Dr. Junankar have traced back formation of stem cells and found that not only does the ID4 mark cells but appears to control the formation of the said the highly aggressive type of cancer cell.

They had tested switching off the ID4 protein in mice and found that the triple-negative breast cancer had stopped dividing.

"We speculate, therefore, that by blocking ID4, it might be possible to turn stem-cell-like breast cancer into less aggressive breast cancers that may even respond to Tamoxifen," Swarbick mentioned. Tamixofen is an effective drug that blocks oestreogen receptor-positive breast cancers and growth, "[Patients] have relatively good prognosis because of the drug."

The study has given new hope to many women diagnosed with this type of cancer. Two years ago, actress Angelina Jolie had a preventive double mastectomy and she has just recently undergone surgery for the removal of her ovaries. She had been adamant on cancer prevention and has been a role model for many women who is going through the disease.

With Dr. Swarbick and Dr. Junankar moving forward on working on ID4's biochemistry, it is possible to have lesser surgeries and more on blocking the existence of the harmful stem cell among people.