How dinosaur fossils could help fill in cancer's ‘jigsaw' of molecular building blocks
Advertisement
In a new study published in the journal Biology that was almost a decade in the making, researchers from two UK universities – Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Imperial College London – identified preserved structures resembling red blood cells in the fossil of a dinosaur that had a tumour.
The findings raised the possibility that prehistoric creatures could be used to study ancient tumours, helping to fill in the 'jigsaw' of cancer's molecular building blocks. This could potentially influence future treatments for humans.
The idea for the study began in 2016 when Professor Justin Stebbing, an oncologist at ARU, came across a news article about the discovery of a new fossil in Romania with a tumour in its jaw.
The remains were those of a juvenile Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed, plant-eating 'marsh lizard' that had lived 66-70 million years ago in the Hateg Basin in present-day Romania.
A sketch of Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus. Image: Debivort/CC-BY-SA-3.0
'Justin said, 'Guys, I want to go and get this tumour and see what we can get out of it,'' said Dr Biancastella Cereser, a cancer specialist at Imperial.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
15-07-2025
- South China Morning Post
China's drug prowess on show at global event, drawing industry ‘shoppers': Jefferies
China's cost and efficiency advantages in drug development have been recognised at the world's largest cancer research conference in the US, where companies were eagerly shopping for Chinese innovations, according to a new report. Nearly a third of the presentations at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting last month involved drug candidates from Chinese companies, American brokerage Jefferies said on Monday in its 'Shopping in China's Biotech Supermarket' report. Chinese firms made 73 presentations at this year's event, up from one a decade ago, it noted. The event allowed novel drug developers to showcase their latest research findings and find potential partners to accelerate the development of drug candidates across global markets. 'Increasingly, multinationals are turning their attention to Chinese biotech companies and assets, given their cost efficiencies, accelerated timelines and promising quality,' said lead author Cui Cui, Jefferies' head of healthcare research for Asia, in the report. Multinationals, facing rising pressure from potential sharp declines in prices as patents expire on their top-selling drugs, are finding China an increasingly attractive place to acquire development rights through licensing deals, she said. Such deals typically give the acquirers exclusive rights to develop drugs that have already shown promising efficacy and safety by conducting large-scale clinical trials and applying for approval in certain agreed markets. In general, the Chinese firms that discover the compounds retain the rights in their home market.
South China Morning Post
09-07-2025
- South China Morning Post
Cheng Ying, Jilin Cancer Hospital director and AstraZeneca-funded scientist, dies suddenly
A top Chinese oncologist and physician-scientist, Cheng Ying, has died suddenly aged 62, according to multiple sources. There has been no official statement about the doctor's death, and the cause of death is not known. Cheng was director of the Jilin Cancer Hospital and according to their outpatient records, she last appeared at the specialist team clinic she led on the morning of July 2. Subsequently, her appointment schedule was removed from the hospital's outpatient information sheet, and news about her from the past year has been removed from the hospital's website. 10:51 New oral treatment for blood cancer offers 97% cure rate, Hong Kong researchers say New oral treatment for blood cancer offers 97% cure rate, Hong Kong researchers say The most recent publicly documented appearance by Cheng was on May 10 at the annual meeting of the small-cell carcinoma committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association in Changchun. Cheng served as chairwoman of the committee at the meeting, where she presented and released a report on research into small-cell carcinoma. Cheng was a top-tier cancer expert in China. In July 1986, she graduated from Bethune Medical University, now called the School of Medicine, Jilin University. She then held positions including director, deputy president, president and party secretary at Jilin Cancer Hospital. In 2009, she received the Chinese medical profession's highest honour, the Chinese Physician Award, and in 2014, was named Outstanding Hospital President by the Chinese Hospital Association.
South China Morning Post
10-06-2025
- South China Morning Post
Colon cancer survival soars with regular exercise, shows study that ‘astounded' experts
A three-year exercise programme improved survival in colon cancer patients and kept the disease at bay, a first-of-its-kind international experiment showed. With the benefits of the programme rivalling some drugs, experts said cancer centres and insurance plans should consider making exercise coaching a new standard of care for colon cancer survivors. Until then, patients can increase their physical activity after treatment, knowing they are doing their part to prevent cancer from coming back. 'It's an extremely exciting study,' said Dr Jeffrey Meyerhardt of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, in the United States, who was not involved in the research. Exercise programmes can be offered for several thousand dollars per patient, one expert said – 'a remarkably affordable intervention'. Photo: Shutterstock It is the first randomised controlled trial to show a reduction in cancer recurrences and improved survival linked to exercise, Meyerhardt said.
