A team of researchers from Australia has made a groundbreaking breakthrough in fighting against colon and stomach cancer by inhibiting a protein that cancer cells use to increase profusely.

"Our discovery could potentially offer a new and complementary approach to chemotherapy and immunotherapy as options for treating gastrointestinal cancers," Matthias Ernst from the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute said.

In the pre-clinical trials, researchers revealed that a certain protein called hematopoietic cell kinase (HCK) plays a significant role in cancer development because of its effect on macrophages, cells that are important for the body's immune system.

Ernst said that the cells work like a "garbage collector" that gets rid of damaged and unwanted cells or a "nurse" that responds to injury and wounding. However, HCK could also be hijacked by cancer cells to fuel cancer, Fox News reported.

"What we've discovered is the more HCK activity a macrophage has, the more it nurtures cancer cell growth and survival," he said. But Ernst believes that stopping the HCK protein would stop cancer cells from proliferating.

Scientists learned that inhibiting HCK using a small drug-like molecule could prevent the growth of these bowel and gastric cancers. The experiment conducted in animal tests showed that existing stomach and colon cancers stopped growing, and the appearance of new cancers was reduced.

Thediscovery could shed light on ways to prevent stomach and bowel cancers. Ernst also said that a drug that would inhibit HCK could be ready for clinical trials over the next three years, and he is hoping it will relieve other types of cancer as well.

Colorectal cancer is the second deadliest form of cancer in the United States as it is resistant to conventional forms of treatment. 

The recent findings offer a "new approach to possibly overcome this resistance," Niall Tebbutt, head of medical oncology at the center, said.