A team of researchers of the Kobe University in the western Japanese prefecture of Hyogo has found small-module compounds that have potent activity to block the interactions of a protein with these multiple effector molecules, which is believed to cause cancer by helping cells proliferate, local media reported on Tuesday.

The researchers, led by Professor Tohru Kataoka at Division of Molecular Biology in the Kobe University Graduate School, recently analyzed, at world's largest synchrotron radiation facility in the prefecture, the "structures" of a unique conformation of a protein called Ras, which is important in cell proliferation, and finally found three types of chemical compounds from among more than 40,000 sorts of substances, which blocks the role of Ras, the reports, including the Jiji Press, said.

Following the discovery, the professor's group also confirmed that those inhibitors, named "Kobe Family Compounds", act to prevent cancer cells from spreading to create tumors hoping that the team will further develop anticancer drugs based on the discovery of the small-module compounds to control the role of the cells, the reports added.

According to the researchers, mutational activation of the Ras oncogene products (H-Ras, K-Ras and N-Ras) is frequently observed in human cancers.

The reports cited researchers of the team saying that that the study could prove the effectiveness of their strategy for " structure-based" drug design to target the protein Ras, and the discovered compounds may serve as a scaffold for further developments of the protein inhibitors with higher potency and specificity.