Researchers have found that using Botox can help to treat gastric cancer. The study, which was presented in the August 20 edition of Science Translational Medicine, indicates that it may be possible to inhibit the growth of cancer cells by cutting the signals sent by nerves that are connected to cancer stem cells, an approach that treated the cancer. Using Botox created a cheap, efficient, and safe treatment. The researchers, who say the treatment has so far been conducted solely on mice, will begin testing in humans.

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Columbia University, and MIT, as well as researches from Japan and Germany, have indicated that the vagal nerve plays a role in the growth of gastric tumors, and that inhibiting the nerve signal to the tumor will stop it from growing.

NTNU Professor Duan Chen and Columbia Professor Timothy Wang, co-corresponding authors of the study, said in a statement, “This study shows that nerves control cancer stem cells.”

Chen added, “We found that by removing the effect of the nerve, the stem cells in the cancer tumor are suppressed, leading to cancer treatment and prevention.”

According to study results, nerves encourage tumor growth through the release of a neurotransmitter.

Researchers attempted four methods of slicing the nerves and their connection to the tumor, including cutting the gastric vagus nerve surgically; locally injecting Botox to help block the vagus nerve from releasing a neurotransmitter; providing a drug to help block the receptor of the neurotransmitter; and taking out the receptor gene. Each of these attempts successfully kept the tumor from growing.

According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, gastric, or stomach, cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world, with roughly 952,000 cases diagnosed in 2012.