A Canadian-led team of international scientists says its discovery of a molecule produced by a genetic mutation that can cause leukemia may help prevent the disease.

"For the first time, we have demonstrated how a metabolite can cause cancer," Prof. Tak Mak of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto is quoted as saying on the University of Toronto's website Friday. "This sets the stage for developing inhibitors to block the mutation and prevent the production of this disease-initiating enzyme."

Published July 4 in Nature, the research shows how a metabolite - a molecule which is produced by a mutated metabolic enzyme - can cause one of the most common types of leukemia in adults.

Mak says the team "genetically engineered a mouse model with the mutation in its blood system to mimic human acute myeloid leukemia (AML)." It discovered that "the gene mutation launches the perfect storm for the metabolite to trigger the blood system to increase the stem cells pool and reduce mature blood cells in the bone marrow. The resulting condition creates a situation with similarities to myelodysplastic syndrome - one of the precursors to this type of leukemia."

According to the study, the mutation is involved in about 70 to 90% of low-grade brain cancers and a variety of other cancers.

Mak is an internationally acclaimed immunologist renowned for his 1984 discovery of cloning the human T-cell receptor.

His research team included scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, and Agios Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts.