Monday, March 24, 2014

Earliest Invasive Cancer Found in 3,000-Year-Old Skeleton

 
By Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor  


A 3,000-year-old skeleton from a conquered territory of ancient Egypt is now the earliest known complete example of a person with malignant cancer spreading from an organ, findings that could help reveal insights on the evolution of the disease, researchers say.
Cancer is one of the world's leading causes of death today, with numbers more than doubling over the past 30 years. However, direct evidence of cancer from ancient human remains is very rare compared with that from other medical conditions. This suggests the disease could mainly be a product of modern factors such as smoking, diet, pollution and greater life expectancies.
To better understand the apparent rising prevalence of cancer over time, scientists want to investigate signs of cancer in ancient humans. Past research had often discovered evidence of tumors in skeletons — but they were benign ones that lacked the ability to invade neighboring tissues.

 
Follow on Bloglovin

No comments:

Post a Comment