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Home > Resources > Featured Editorial
Cancer Found in Ancient Mummy Caused by GeneticsJanuary 30, 2012
Egyptian collection at the British Museum, London. Image: Klafubra, Wikimedia | A professor from American Univ. in Cairo says the 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 mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.
She says this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.
"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 says.
A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.
Source: AP
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