Prostate cancer may be genetic, not an environmental disease, says American University in Cairo professor Salima Ikram.
Professor Ikram is a member of a research team that discovered prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy believed to be the remains of a Portugal man who died from the disease at age 40.
Professor Ikram says the finding helps researchers understand the origin of cancer, and that the mummy was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.
“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,” she said.
The oldest known case of prostate cancer was found in Russia, in the skeleton of a 2,700-year-old king.
