Dinosaurs could hold key to cancer discoveries: Study highlights importance of preserving fossilized soft tissues
Date: 2.6.2025
New techniques used to analyze soft tissue in dinosaur fossils may hold the key to new cancer discoveries, according to a study published in the journal Biology.
Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Imperial College London analyzed dinosaur fossils using advanced paleoproteomic techniques, a method that holds promise for uncovering molecular data from ancient specimens.
The researchers discovered red blood cell-like structures in a fossil while studying a Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed, plant-eating "marsh lizard" that lived between 66–70 million years ago in the Hateg Basin in present-day Romania.
The new study used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques to identify low-density structures resembling erythrocytes, or red blood cells, in the fossilized bone.
The findings raise the possibility that soft tissue and cellular components are more commonly preserved in ancient remains than previously thought.
By identifying preserved proteins and biomarkers, scientists believe they can gain insights into the diseases that affected prehistoric creatures, including cancer, potentially influencing future treatments for humans.
Image source: Debivort, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
