The research builds on the university's earlier discovery that PAX genes, important in embryonic development, also allow cancer cells to grow and divide in adult tissue.
The world-first research in 2003, led by Otago researcher Prof Michael Eccles, found proteins from one or more of the nine PAX genes were present in many common cancers.
By "silencing" the gene expression of PAX2 in ovarian and bladder cancer cells, and of PAX3 in melanoma, the researchers found the cancer cells rapidly died out.
The latest findings, published in the British journal, Oncogene, showed that silencing the gene also had a dramatic effect on tumour cells, but through a different mechanism.
The researchers silenced the gene after identifying high levels of PAX8 proteins in most kidney, ovarian and thyroid cancers.
"The cells were essentially stopped in their tracks through the failure of multiple mechanisms and pathways crucial to their cell division cycle," Prof Eccles said.
The cells then stopped dividing and ultimately died.
"It was surprising and it was exciting," he said of the research.
An "unexpected windfall" of the research was in clarifying the important role played by the PAX8 gene in cancer development, he said.
The Otago study was expected to attract international scientific interest and could further encourage the creation of a new diagnostic test for the presence of PAX8 in the blood or tissue, something which could occur within two to three years.
That could provide earlier detection of certain cancers, he said.
In the longer term, perhaps five to 10 years, a potential new anti-cancer therapy could be developed by disabling PAX8, Prof Eccles said.
"In the meantime this research helps confirm that a focus on PAX genes may prove to be a fruitful line of attack against a number of cancers," he said.
Funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the research was carried out by Otago PhD graduate Caiyun (Grace) Li, now a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, and with co-authors Prof Antony Braithwaite and master's student Jen Nyman.
