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Attaching a sticky ball of special proteins to white blood cells might be proved effective in eliminating metastasizing cancer cells, a new study hints.

“These circulating cancer cells are doomed,” said Michael King, Cornell professor of biomedical engineering and the study’s senior author in a press release. “About 90 percent of cancer deaths are related to metastases, but now we’ve found a way to dispatch an army of killer white blood cells that cause apoptosis – the cancer cell’s own death – obliterating them from the bloodstream. When surrounded by these guys, it becomes nearly impossible for the cancer cell to escape.”

TRAIL (Tumor Necrosis Factor Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand) proteins are the vigilante proteins that are responsible for the cancer termination. These are attached to white blood cells with another adhesive protein called E-selectin. As these white blood cells spread throughout the bloodstream, the difficulty to avoid TRAILs increases. And surprisingly, when these two come in contact, the cancer cells essentially kill themselves.

“The mechanism is surprising and unexpected in that this repurposing of white blood cells in flowing blood is more effective than directly targeting the cancer cells with liposomes or soluble protein,” wrote authors.

Scientists believe that the key to success is in moving the bloodstream. When they test drove their experiment, they recorded a 60 percent of success rate.

“The data shows a dramatic effect: it’s not a slight change in the number of cancer cells. The results are quite remarkable actually, in human blood and in mice. After two hours of blood flow, they [the tumour cells] have literally disintegrated,” concluded Prof King, according to BBC.