British archaeologists said they have found the oldest complete example of a human being with metastatic cancer and believe it can offer new information about the fatal disease.
The 3,000-year-old skeleton was found by researchers from Durham University and the British Museum in a tomb in modern Sudan in 2013, according to Reuters.
The researchers used radiography and a scanning electron microscope to study the skeleton. They were able to get clear images of lesions on the bones, which showed that the cancer had spread to cause tumors on the collar bones, upper arms, vertebrae, shoulder blades, pelvis, ribs and thigh bones, Reuters reported.
"Insights gained from archeological human remains like these can really help us to understand the evolution and history of modern diseases," said Michaela Binder, a Durham PhD student. Binder led the research and excavated and studied the skeleton.
"Our analysis shows that the shape of the small lesions on the bones can only have been caused by a soft tissue cancer . . . though the exact origin is impossible to determine through the bones alone."
While cancer is one of the world's leading causes of death today, there are almost no archeological records of cancer compared to other diseases, which supports the idea that cancer is a product of modern living and people living longer, e! Science News reported.
The skeleton is of an adult male, calculated to be between 25-and-35-years-old when he died, Reuters reported. It was discovered at the archeological site of Amara West in northern Sudan on the Nile, 750km downstream from the capital Khartoum.
While the exact cause of cancer has yet to be determined, the researchers say it could have been caused by environmental carcinogens such as smoke from wood fires, through genetic factors, or from infectious diseases such as schistsomiasis, which is caused by parasites, e! Science News reported. The researchers said a schistsomiasis infection can be a likely cause due to the disease plaguing Egyptians and Nubians since at least 1500 BC, as well as currently being recognized a cause of bladder cancer and breast cancer in men.
"Through taking an evolutionary approach to cancer, information from ancient human remains may prove a vital element in finding ways to address one of the world's major health problems," Binder said.
