SEOUL, April 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korean scientists announced on Tuesday that they have discovered a reason for the human immune system's inability to attack cancerous growths.

    According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, a research team led by Yonsei University professor Kim Ho-guen said they have been able to pinpoint how cancerous cells are able to disguise themselves to avoid attacks by the body.

    The team said they found that cancerous cells produce what is called nonsense-mediated translational repression (NMTR) that represses the growth of telltale proteins. The findings were published in the latest issue of the U.S.-based PLoS Biology online magazine

    Kim and chief research fellow You Kwon-tae received research assistance from the South Korean Science Ministry.