A team of archaeologists from the University of Durham and the British Museum (United Kingdom) has discovered in Sudan one of the oldest examples of cancer in humans in the world with the discovery of a skeleton of about 3,200 years of age with metastatic cancer.
The study, published in the journal Plos One , describes that the skeleton remains were found in a grave in 2013, about 750 kilometers from Khartoum, and that it belonged to an adult man who would have died between the ages of 25-35 , although they could not determine if the man died of cancer or for another reason.
The researchers discovered after analyzing the skeleton using X-rays and a scanning electron microscope, that the remains had bone lesions caused by soft tissue cancer , which explained that the tumor had spread throughout the body causing metastases in the vertebrae, the ribs, shoulder blades, arms and legs.
Because cancer is a modern disease (due to diet, pollution …), the researchers do not know what could have caused the cancer in this man , but they point to three fronts: an environmental factor such as carcinogens in the smoke of the fire, a genetic factor or even a parasite that still causes breast and bladder cancer today.
"The knowledge obtained from human remains can help to better understand the evolution and history of modern diseases," says Michaela Binder, director of the research.
Image credit: British Museum
