In a new finding researchers have identified two new genetic mutations which lead to a significant number of the hardest-to-treat kinds of ovarian cancer and say that they point to a new "on-off" switch for tumors.

They are hopeful that their discovery may help doctors to improve the cancer treatments and also lead to the development of drugs which treat forms of cancer.

The findings were published by two separate teams of researchers in the journal Science and the New England Journal of Medicine and they suggest a previously unknown mechanism for how cancer starts.

The genes attack ovarian clear cell carcinoma which is one of the most aggressive forms of ovarian cancer. Out of the total cases of ovarian cancer this one amounts to about 10-12 percent. Ovarian cancer itself is one of the most deadly and most difficult to treat tumor types.

Nickolas Papadopoulos of Johns Hopkins, who worked on the study, said "They may provide opportunities for developing new biomarkers and therapies that target those genes."