ROME, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two Italian researchers announced Monday that they have identified a gene which plays a key role in the development of stem cells and is also involved in the most aggressive forms of brain tumors.

    Antonio Iavarone and Anna Lasorella, researchers at New York's Columbia University Medical Center, said the finding could help find new treatment for brain tumors.

    They said their work followed major research by other scientists who had produced induced pluripotent stem cells, commonly abbreviated as IPS cells or iPSCs, according to the ANSA news agency.

    IPS cells are a type of pluripotent stem cell artificially derived from a non-pluripotent cell, by inducing a "forced" expression of certain genes.

    The researchers, whose study will be published by the prestigious journal Developmental Cell, confirmed that they had identified a gene -- Huwe1-- which produces a protein with the same name.

    "This protein is capable of destroying some of the key proteins used to produce iPS and restart the transformation of stem cells in adult cells," said Iavarone.

    Huwe1 could be used to help other researchers find new therapies for brain tumors, according the researchers.

    "It appears to be indispensable for the proper programming of brain stem cells. We saw that it helps develop the neurons in mice embryos and noticed as well that it is eliminated when the most malignant type of brain tumor -- Glioblatoma multiforme (GBM) -- begins to develop in humans," said Iavarone.

    GBM is the most common and most aggressive type of brain tumor in humans.