Periosteal osteosarcoma in a Triassic turtle

[Logo7]

A new study by researchers from the Berlin Museum of Natural History has described evidence of bone cancer (periosteal osteosarcoma) on a thighbone of the 240 million year old Triassic turtle ancestor Pappochelys. The shape of the tumor looks extremely similar to that of the tumor that the same disease causes in modern humans, challenging the idea that diseases have changed so much over time that it is impossible to use modern disease manifestations to understand past ones. The thighbone was part of the original 20 specimens of the genus discovered back in 2008, but the growth was not known to be cancerous until scientists utilized a CT scan to look inside the bone and see its internal structure. While it is unclear if this cancer led to the early turtle's death, the researchers still consider it a possibility, especially if the cancer reached the animal's lungs like it does in modern humans. This discovery is significant due to it providing rare fossil evidence of cancer, a rare chance to link fossil pathologies to known diseases, and the oldest evidence of cancer in an amniote. Here is an image of the thighbone with the cancerous tumor and a reconstruction of the animal bearing it by paleoartist Brian Engh, as well as a link to the paper describing this study.




Paper (abstract only): https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/article-abstract/2723578

[Faelrin]

That has to be some of the cutest paleoart I've seen yet.

Really good find though. That's got to have some interesting implications somewhere (aside from learning more about the past, etc).