Researchers have found that a protein that once deactivated could prevent the spread of an aggressive type of breast cancer to other sites in the body a process known as metastasis. In their study published in the journal Cell Reports the researchers demonstrated that a protein AXL influences the occurrence of metastasis in HER2-positive cancer an aggressive type that accounts for 20 per cent of breast cancers. In HER2-positive breast cancers cells with high levels of AXL are more likely to detach from tumours to form metastases. Read: Breast cancer recurrence- Here is everything you need to know The research