No bones about it.
a micro-CT analysis of a Neanderthal rib shows the empty once occupied by a tumor.
GW Weber / University of Vienna
Neanderthals living 0,000 years ago in what is now Croatia has not been exposed to industrial chemicals, and they ate a diet without processed foods. Yet, this did not spare our modern diseases. Scientists have discovered the first known case of a tumor in the rib of a Neanderthal man dating back to there are more than 0,000 years. The oldest known human tumor is there are less than 4,000 years.
"relatively little is known about [tumor] prevalence in ancient times," said forensic anthropologist Douglas Ubelaker of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington who was not involved in the new work. This result " is very useful to understand the roots of this disease. "
the bone-portion of an upper left rib of an adult male Neanderthal-was initially uncovered between 1899 and 105 during the excavation Krapina, a cave in the north of Croatia, who gave hundreds of ancient human remains. But the coast was misfiled and ignored for nearly a century until, in 1999, he was briefly described in a list of specimens. recently, anthropologist David Frayer of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and colleagues began studying the bone pathologies in Krapina collections. It was immediately clear that the rib fragment- 0.17 in the normal specimen collection, wasnt. "The bone is broken away so that you can look into the room of the cord, where even a child, you expect to see the cancellous bone," says Clearing. "But in this side, instead of have a bone mesh there, it is completely empty. "
Even to the naked eye, scientists have recognized that the blank area of the bone indicated a tumor had once sat there. But to get more details on its size and shape, the researchers turned to the X rays and CT scans. These studies revealed that physical standard characteristics and location of the missing bones were consistent with dysplastic neoplasm fibrous vacuum, a tumor caused by a bone growth disorder, scientists report online today in PLOS oNE . Now fibrous dysplasia neoplasms are one of the most common causes tumors in the ribs and can lead to bone fractures and pain.
"Unfortunately, we do not have more of this particular skeleton," says Clearing. As a result, the researchers can not determine more details about the individual with the tumor, as if his bones had other tumors and if he had symptoms of systemic diseases that can occur alongside the tumors. Researchers also can not draw conclusions from a single sample on the incidence of tumors in the Neanderthal population, he said.
"There is always a temptation to try to read more into a lesion that can be interpreted with confidence," said Ubelaker. "But these authors have done a splendid job and prudent to take proof that insofar as it will go in terms of differential diagnosis. "
the causes fibrous dysplasia neoplasms are not now included. Knowing that they were present in the human family since the prehistoric times could shed light on how tumors co-opt an ancient molecular pathway in our cells to grow. But it will take more than old bone tumors examples to draw broader conclusions, say the researchers.
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