Dinosaur found with signs of tumour-causing disease that afflicts humans today.
Fossils from a hapless hadrosaur from Alberta show telltale signs of a disease that causes tumours in human children, showing the affliction has been around since at least the Age of Dinosaurs, a new study suggests.
Bones from the tail of a truck-sized duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur that lived about 75 million years ago had some large, unusual holes in them that caught the eye of Darren Tanke of the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.
In a new study published last week in the journal Scientific Reports, Tanke and collaborators in the U.S. and Israel propose that the holes were caused by tumours from Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). The disease affects about one in 200,000 human children and, in rare cases, adults, according to the Histiocytosis Association of Canada.
The disease, which can be painful but usually isn't fatal in humans, is caused by an overgrowth of immature white blood cells called Langerhans cells, which can accumulate into tumours in parts of the body such as the skin, bones, lymph nodes or liver.
more at link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/hadrosaur-lch-1.5464558
Hmmm... Interesting that this disease has been around for 75 million years and now affects humans.