Tracing the trail of cancer: Reviewing past prevalences of malignant cancer and exploring future applications of biomolecular methods

This literary review aims to gain more knowledge on the prevalence of malignant cancer in ancient humans and past populations. The focus during this research remains on malignant cancers as they are significantly more impactful in the quality of life and mortality statuses in past societies. Therefore to address these challenges and contribute to a better understanding of cancer in the past, present, and future, this thesis aimed to accomplish the following: 1. Provide a comprehensive review of all published cases of malignant cancer in ancient populations to create a clearer picture of the occurrence and distribution of cancer in different time periods and geographical regions. 2. Explore potential biomolecular methods for cancer research in the archaeological record. While such techniques have been successfully used for studying ancient infections, their application to cancer remains limited. Investigating the feasibility of biomolecular approaches in paleo-oncology could open new...Show moreThis literary review aims to gain more knowledge on the prevalence of malignant cancer in ancient humans and past populations. The focus during this research remains on malignant cancers as they are significantly more impactful in the quality of life and mortality statuses in past societies. Therefore to address these challenges and contribute to a better understanding of cancer in the past, present, and future, this thesis aimed to accomplish the following: 1. Provide a comprehensive review of all published cases of malignant cancer in ancient populations to create a clearer picture of the occurrence and distribution of cancer in different time periods and geographical regions. 2. Explore potential biomolecular methods for cancer research in the archaeological record. While such techniques have been successfully used for studying ancient infections, their application to cancer remains limited. Investigating the feasibility of biomolecular approaches in paleo-oncology could open new avenues for understanding the evolution and prevalence of cancer in antiquity. By combining osteoarchaeological data with emerging biomedical approaches, this research intended to enhance our knowledge of cancer in ancient populations, contribute to a deeper understanding of its historical context and evolution, and potentially impact future biomedical research. In the end, an updated version of the CRAB Database was used to provide the comprehensive overview. Although some assumptions were produced, there were not distinctive conclusions to be made on the identification of recognisable patterns of cancer prevalence in the past, as the values of the recorded individuals is simple to low along with other limitations. The incorporation of biomolecular approaches, on the other hand, have concluded that these are able to be used on archaeological remains and aid researchers in the detection of cancer and subsequently the deeper understanding of cancer prevalence in the past. These techniques are therefore recommended to use in future researches and to re-evaluate previous studies to increase the accuracy of detection and diagnosis.Show less

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Tracing the trail of cancer: Reviewing past prevalences of malignant cancer and exploring future applications of biomolecular methods