Italian researchers have found a gene involved in the metastasis, or uncontrollable spread, of cancer.

The study, published in Cell, says the p63 gene stops working in a cancerous stem cell and starts behaving ''asocially'' so that it moves around and sparks metastasis.

The breakthrough was made by two teams of researchers, one at Padua University under Stefano Piccolo and another at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia under Silvio Bicciato.