Old Bones

Causing an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018, cancer is one of the most significant health concerns worldwide. While we generally focus on modern behaviours increasing the risk of cancer, such as smoking or exposure to pollutants, this disease has an ancient origin. Scientists recently discovered evidence of cancer in a 240-million-year-old fossil of an extinct relative of turtles, Pappochelys rosinae (pictured), making it the oldest known case in an amniote, the group of vertebrates including reptiles, birds and mammals. Pappochelys fossils helped palaeontologists shed light on how turtles evolved shells, but a suspicious growth on one specimen’s femur also caught their attention. Micro CT scans revealed a bone tumour closely resembling periosteal osteosarcoma, a bone cancer found in humans. While most tumours develop in soft tissues, so are not preserved in the fossil record, this discovery highlights the ancient nature of the genetic and cellular processes underpinning this disease.

Written by Emmanuelle Briolat

Emmanuelle Briolat

Writer

A researcher specialising in visual signals in Lepidoptera, camouflage and the effects of light pollution, Emmanuelle’s writing covers a range of topics, from biomedical research to children’s books about moth defences.

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• Image by Rainer Schoch, Stuttgart Natural History Museum
• Research from Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Berlin, Germany
• Image copyright held by the photographer
• Research published in JAMA Oncology, February 2019