Ancient people also have cancer

Finally, a group of international scientists found the mysterious disease that caused M1's death (a 2,150-year-old mummy). This is the oldest known case of prostate cancer in ancient Egypt and is the second case of the ancient world.

About 2250 years ago in Egypt, this man struggled with a strange and extremely painful illness. Dull pain starts in the back and spreads to other parts of the body. The man later died of this puzzling disease between the ages of 51 and 60 and was mummified with the hope that he could be reborn.

Carry out a cut of the lumbar spine of M1 mummy, the
Scientists found signs of prostate cancer.

Over 2000 years later, the mystery of the cause of death has been elucidated. Many people are surprised to learn that prostate cancer is the ' hidden ' culprit .

The scientific team also said that in many previous studies, the skeletal analysis process ignored the assessment of cancer incidence because of the high resolution computerized tomography (CT) method that allows receiving know the tumors are very small, just beginning to be popular since 2005.

After conducting a scan on three Egyptian mummies, the team discovered many small, round, dense tumors in the pelvis, lumbar spine as well as in the upper arm and leg bones of M1. These are areas most often affected by prostate cancer metastasis.

Previously, the cases recorded in cancer in the ancient world are very rare.

Many people believe that cancer has just begun to appear and develop in the modern industrial era, when carcinogens are increasingly popular in food and living environments. Besides, prolonged human lifespan is also a condition for tumors to have more time to develop.

However, Albert Zink, an anthropologist at Bolzano's Mummy and Ice Research Institute (Italy), said carcinogens are not strange in ancient times.

For example, the soot layer (black dust closed on the kitchen wall, kitchen roof) from stoves uses wood containing human carcinogens. In addition, the type of plastic that the boat makers heat and use is also related to lung cancer and tumors in the airways and intestines.

'I think cancer is a fairly common disease in the past, ' Zink said.

This finding is of great significance in studying the origin of cancer as well as the complex interplay between the environment, diet and disease-causing genes.'Certainly a better understanding of the origin of the disease will be an important part of finding a cure , ' Zink concludes.