At first glance, dinosaur fossils and modern cancer research may seem apart.
But a new study suggests that millions of years in the old bones for soft tisses are stored in old bones valuable insights into how cancer works – and how we can treat it today.
Researchers from the UK and Romania investigated the fossilized remains of a Telmatosaurus Transylvanicus Dinosaur, a small 'Marsh Lizard' the size of a cow.
With the help of powerful microscopy, the team discovered that structures looked like red blood cells (or erythrocytes), coupled to a tumor in the jaw of the dinosaur, who discovered an earlier study.
Scanning electron microscope image with the erythrocytic structures discovered in the dinosaur fossil. (Chandrasinghe et al., Biology2025)
It is a discovery that suggests that small spots can be kept soft tissue more often in fossils than we thought – and that means that we can find much more about these old beings, including any diseases they had.
“Unlike only skeleton structures, soft tissues contain proteins that offer molecular information that can reveal the underlying biological disease mechanisms,” ” out Oncologist Justin Stebbing, from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.
“Our research, with the help of relatively under -utilized methods, invites further exploration that could have the key to future discoveries that can benefit people.”
Finding fragments of soft dinosaur tissue as described here can, for example, turn out to be crucial in understanding cancer mechanisms and how they have evolved, the researchers suggest.
Large animals such as whales and elephants have developed ways to protect themselves against cancer, and that is possible dinosaurs Could have too.
Insight into these old biological adjustments can be informed of new approaches of cancer prevention or treatment in people on a day.
However, careful preservation of these samples is crucial: we can assume that future scientific progress will be made to analysis equipment, but those upgrades will not be that important without dinosaur tissue to study.
“DinosaursAs long -lived, large organisms, present a mandatory case to investigate how species managed the sensitivity and resistance of cancer for millions of years, ” out Stebbing.
“It is crucial that the long -term efforts are coordinated in the long term to ensure that future researchers have access to specimens that are suitable for advanced molecular research.”
The dinosaur that was the focus of this study had an Ameloblastoomtumor, a tumor type that is still found in humans.
That the dinosaurs Forced for millions of years by the earth means that the potential is there to see how cancer has changed at the time – and how the affected species may have adapted.
And although it may seem unbelievable that everything that can survive organically for so long, it is possible – as this new study shows – so that we can see how genetics, biology and environmental pressure have helped to cause cancer in the late chalk.
“Proteins, in particular those in calcified tissues such as bone, are more stable than DNA and are less sensitive to breakdown and contamination,” out Stebbing.
“This makes them ideal candidates for studying old diseases, including cancer, in paleontological samples.”
The research has been published in Biology.
