2,200-year-old Egyptian mummy had prostate cancer
Discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy suggests the disease is caused by genetics – not the environment.
Professor Salima Ikram, of the American University in Cairo, Egypt, said: ‘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.’
Whether environment or genetics triggers cancer is key to understanding it.
The unnamed Ptolemaic mummy, which is kept at the National Archaeology Museum of Lisbon, had a pattern of round and dense tumours between its pelvis and lumbar spine - giveaway signs of man's modern-day killer....