Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy

A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of .

"Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors," she said.

A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old of a king in Russia.

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Citation: Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy (2012, January 29) retrieved 29 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2012-01-cancer-ancient-egyptian-mummy.html
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Prostate cancer found in ancient Egyptian mummy

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