An ancient indication of cancer could help the patients of today.
The world's oldest evidence of the deadly disease in humans was discovered by British archaeologists in a 3,000-year-old skeleton last month, a discovery that could help researchers understand the evolution of the condition and how it was contracted in ancient times.
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The skeleton's tomb in northern Sudan is further proof of its presence long ago and the only other credible example of human cancer from before the first millennium BC.
"Through taking an evolutionary approach to cancer, information from human remains may prove a vital element in finding ways to address one of the world's major health problems," Michaela Binder, a Ph.D student in the Department of Archaeology at Durham University who found the skeleton, said in a statement.
Researchers at Durham University and the British Museum believe the metastatic carcinoma -- cancer that has spread to parts of the body other than the one it started in -- was most likely caused by environmental factors such as smoke or genetic ones such as infectious diseases caused by parasites. It is unclear, however, if the disease was the cause of death.
Lesions on the skeleton, which is thought to belong to a male individual who was 25 to 35 years old when he died, were examined using an imaging technique called radiography and a scanning electron microscope. They showed evidence of cancer on multiple bones, those of the collar, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thighs.
Although this is the oldest example of cancer found in a human, a tumor discovered in a 120,000-year-old Neanderthal is earliest evidence of the disease that exists thus far.
The findings were published in the academic journal PLOS One earlier this month.