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Cancer: an old disease, a new disease or something in between?

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 10, pages 728–733 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

In industrialized societies, cancer is second only to cardiovascular disease as a cause of death. The history of this disorder has the potential to improve our understanding of disease prevention, aetiology, pathogenesis and treatment. A striking rarity of malignancies in ancient physical remains might indicate that cancer was rare in antiquity, and so poses questions about the role of carcinogenic environmental factors in modern societies. Although the rarity of cancer in antiquity remains undisputed, the first published histological diagnosis of cancer in an Egyptian mummy demonstrates that new evidence is still forthcoming.

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Figure 1: Benign bony proliferations of the femur can be mistaken for tumours.
Figure 2: Mummification preserves features of malignancy.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge The Leverhulme Trust and The Wellcome Trust for their support of research undertaken at the KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. A. Rosalie David is at the KNH Centre of Biomedical Egyptology, The University of Manchester, 3.614 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. rosalie.david@manchester.ac.uk,

    A. Rosalie David

  2. Michael R. Zimmerman is at the Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085, USA. michael.r.zimmerman@villanova.edu,

    Michael R. Zimmerman

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Glossary

Black bile

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David, A., Zimmerman, M. Cancer: an old disease, a new disease or something in between?. Nat Rev Cancer 10, 728–733 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc2914

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