New research suggests that experimental drugs developed to increase production of a natural compound in the body — known as microRNA miR-7 — may be able to suppress stomach cancer.

The findings, reported in the study in The Journal of Cell Biology by researchers in China, indicate miR-7 blocks the genetic process by which the cancer-causing bacterium H. pylori leads to the disease.

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health. MiR-7, which is frequently decreased in gastric cancers, can stop the cancer cells from spreading.

The researchers found that MiR-7 affects genetic processes tied to the development of stomach cancer by stopping the mechanism by which healthy gastric cells turn into tumors.

The findings, in studies of mice, could open the door to new treatments for the disease.