Beyond Paleontology: Studying Fossils to Understand Cancer
Featured Image Caption: Telmatosaurus sketch by Debivort CC by SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Primary Source Article: Chandrasinghe, P. C., Cereser, B., Bertazzo, S., Csiki-Sava, Z., & Stebbing, J. (2025). Preserving Fossilized Soft Tissues: Advancing Proteomics and Unveiling the Evolutionary History of Cancer in Dinosaurs. Biology, 14(4), 370. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology14040370
Secondary Source Article: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/14/4/370
Can looking into the past provide insights into the future? Researchers studying Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus seem to think so when it comes to better understanding cancer. Specifically, paleoproteonomics offers a method to study ancient proteins and the associated tradeoffs between growth, reproduction, and cancer suppression.
To the untrained eye, a fossil is simply a relic of the past to be admired in a natural museum. However, fossils can provide clues, not just about a dinosaur’s anatomy, but dietary habits, behavior, and lifestyle. Even more surprising is that fossil records have shown that extinct species had tumors. For example, skeletal remains of Edmontosaurus, a dinosaur that lived 73 to 66 million years ago, show that this dinosaur was prone to developing bone tumors near the tail bone. Similar problems were found with Brachylophosaurus, Gilmoreosaurus, and Bactrosaurus. In an epidemiological study, duck-billed dinosaurs were found to have a range of bone cancers, both malignant and benign. Discovering ancient cancer has provided opportunities to understand how cancer develops and the mechanisms that prevent cancer.
Cancer and Ongoing Challenges
To understand cancer, it is important to first understand cells. Cells have a schedule for when they grow, divide, perform tasks, and die. The coordination of this schedule relies on checkpoints, repair mechanisms, and programmed signals that instruct the cell on what to do.
Stress from the internal and external environment can damage the DNA in the cell. When this occurs, the cell normally has cellular machinery that cuts and replaces damaged pieces of DNA. Sometimes, these repairs are completed and the cell returns to normal. However, tumors can form when a mutation remains unrepaired in the portion of DNA that controls cell growth. Normally, when this occurs, your body employs additional quality check controls in the DNA called tumor suppressor genes. These prevent cells that have gone haywire from copying themselves and making other tumorous cells. When a cell bypasses tumor suppressor genes, it grows continuously without regulation. Instead of being a productive cell that helps perform important functions, it takes up resources, impedes other cells’ functions, and spreads to other places in the body.
According to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), despite all the progress in cancer research, cancer is still a U.S. and global issue. In 2025, AACR estimates that roughly 2,041,910 new cancer cases will be diagnosed and 618,120 people will die from the disease in the United States.
Tools of the Trade, Studying Fossilized Soft Tissues
Paleoproteonomics is the study of ancient proteins. Proteins surprisingly can outlast DNA and are a perfect candidate for studying cancer. Although proteins do decay, proteins have the ability to persist in the bones, teeth, and eggshells for millions of years due to inefficient nitrogen recycling.
The tools involved in the study of ancient proteins include mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). For context, mass spectrometry enables researchers to detect individual protein molecule units, while SEM helps researchers determine where to find soft tissue by looking for fibrous structures and the presence of blood cells. ToF-SIMS is a tool that can find markers of collagen. Synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy can also detect proteins in the bone matrix. Collectively, these tools help identify the location of proteins that exist in hard-to-study locations of bone that are fragmented and old.
The researchers in the study focused on whether they could detect soft tissues in a lesion of the tooth called an ameloblastoma in Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus. Rather than detecting dry regions of bone, they were able to successfully detect soft tissues such as erythrocyte-like structures. Detecting erythrocyte-like structures is a crucial step in evaluating whether there are viable proteins that can be used to study the presence of cancer. Proteins serve as biomarkers in detecting the presence of cancer. Based on the morphology, presence, and quantity of certain proteins, researchers can identify and learn how certain cancers develop. This is particularly useful in advancing the field of oncology’s early cancer diagnostics, disease monitoring, and protein targeted therapy.
Unfortunately, the study was only limited to identifying structural features of soft tissues. The study did not utilize the proteins present in the fossils to build a molecular profile of what tumor suppressor genes were present in Telmatasaurrus transsylvanicus. This research serves as a starting point for future research on comparative oncology. An exciting prospect of this research highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach, bringing in the expertise of paleontologists, molecular biologists, and evolutionary scientists to advance cancer research. Glimpsing into the past can bring future insights on tumor suppression mechanisms that could ultimately lead to modern medicine advancements.
Want to learn more about Telmatosaurus? Check out these links below
https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth/view/Telmatosaurus#66
https://dinosaurpictures.org/Telmatosaurus-pictures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telmatosaurus
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