Cancer cells travel by adapting their behaviour to different environments, scientists have found.

On flat surfaces, they tend to “crawl” while in a web-like meshwork they become rounder to help them squeeze through gaps.

The findings, from observations of tumour cells in different conditions, could aid the development of new treatments to curb the spread of cancer.

Metastasis, the spread of cancer around the body, is usually what kills patients with the disease.

Scientists are trying to develop new drugs that can halt the march of mobile cancer cells.

Melda Tozluoglu, from the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute, a member of the team whose work is published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, said: “For cancer to spread, cancer cells actually need to move inside the body, from one point to another, stop, and start a new tumour.

“Our work focuses on understanding how the cancer cells move in the body, so that we can hamstring them – lock them into place so that other treatments can destroy them.

“Our study shows that cancer cells need different molecular mechanisms to navigate in different environments, just like you would need light running shoes to jog in the park but strong boots to hike in hills in the rain.

“We also know that cancer cells have the ability to use all different methods of movement, so stopping just one route will not stop them spreading through the body.

“In other words, if we take their hiking boots away, they will switch to running shoes and, although they may not be as fast, they will keep moving. This means we need to use drugs that target the many different types of movement that cancer cells can take advantage of.”

Julie Sharp, senior science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Stopping cancers from spreading to new parts of the body is an important aim of our researchers and it's essential for making treatments more effective.”