A team of Israeli and German researchers has mapped out how skin cancer cells grow and spread – a discovery some are hailing as a roadmap to developing new drugs that are tantamount to a cure for melanoma, the deadliest form of the disease.

The findings, by Tel Aviv University and German Cancer Research (DKFZ) scientists, provide a new understanding of how skin cancer tumors spread through the body, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The scientists, who reported their work in the journal Nature Cell Biology, said the findings raise hopes of melanoma becoming “nonthreatening and easily curable.”

Lead researcher Dr. Carmit Levy, of the human molecular genetics and biochemistry department at TAU’s Sackler School of Medicine, said before spreading to other organs, tumors send out tiny vesicles containing microRNA that prepare the skin to receive and transport the cancer cells.

The researchers also found chemical substances that can stop the process and could be developed as anti-cancer drugs.

“Our study is an important step on the road to a full remedy for the deadliest skin cancer,” said Levy. “We hope that our findings will help turn melanoma into a nonthreatening, easily curable disease.”

Melanoma kills has been on the rise for the past 30 years. Despite new therapies that have been developed over the years, there is no cure.