(BY THE PRESS)
(Edmonton) It’s a diagnosis that took 75 million years.
Canadian researchers who include surgeons, paleontologists and other specialists have identified what they say is the first known cancer in a dinosaur. The conclusion not only sheds light on what is still one of mankind’s most dreaded diseases, but also sheds light on how ancient lizards were able to live together – and protect themselves with each other.
“Dinosaurs are seen as mythical, larger than life and powerful creatures,” said David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum, one of the co-authors of an article on the discovery published by the scientific journal The Lancet. .
“But they were living animals, breathing, suffering from the same injuries and diseases that we see today in animals and humans. “
The Centrosaur fossil was originally collected in the 1970s in one of the fossil deposit beds in the Alberta badlands. The region has provided hundreds of samples of this horned dinosaur.
PHOTO ROY ONT MUSEUM/MCMASTER U, VIA REUTERS
The bone was examined by cancer specialists, subjected to microscopic analysis and a high-resolution CT scan.
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Paleontologists initially speculated that a growth on a bone in the leg was the result of a fracture. The hypothesis was not questioned until a chance conversation between David Evans and Mark Crowther, president of McMaster University’s medical school and dinosaur enthusiast.
The two were discussing evidence regarding dinosaur diseases. This led to an expedition to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, which has hundreds of fossils that show signs of injury.
The team eventually focused their attention on a fossilized leg bone.
The bone was examined by cancer specialists, subjected to microscopic analysis and a high-resolution CT scan.
“This is a lesion that forms a bone,” said study co-author Seper Ekthiari, an orthopedic surgery resident at McMaster University.
PHOTO GEORGIA KIRKOS, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The co-author of the Seper Ekthiari study
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“It cleared the infection right away because the infection doesn’t form new bone. “
It wasn’t a repaired break either. New bone around fractures forms in predictable layers.
“The bone is very disorganized and doesn’t have a clear pattern,” Seper Ekthiari said.
The growth stretched all the way down the bone, which a fracture scar wouldn’t do. Holes in the fossil suggested large, messy blood vessels, which cancerous tissue is known to develop.
Finally, the fossil has been compared to a human leg bone with bone cancer.
“It is striking how similar the microscope slides are,” Seper Ekthiari said.
The conclusion ? Osteosarcoma, a cancer that still affects more than three in a million humans today.
Seper Ekthiari is of the opinion that the dinosaur was very sick.
“A tumor that had spread this far in a human would almost certainly have metastasized elsewhere. It is very likely that he suffered ”.
Seper Ekthiari found himself in love with his former patient.
“We all share a similar body plane and we all share a common ancestor. He was probably a gentle herbivorous animal trying to keep up with the herd. “
And yet the cancer didn’t kill him, nor did a hungry carnivorous dinosaur that attacked the slowest and weakest.
Because the fossil was found with many others, David Evans is convinced that the ailing dinosaur died along with many of its ilk in a natural event such as a flood, which raises an intriguing possibility.
“We know these dinosaurs were very social,” he said. “Many horned dinosaurs lived in large herds.” They often lived with members of their extended family. »
“There is an advantage to living in a group. It would not be surprising to me if the flock protected the sick, weak and lame. “
“It’s completely speculative,” added David Evans. “But it wouldn’t be impossible. “
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