Re: Bone Cancer

[Pieter.Depuydt@rug.ac.be]

> Has anyone ever heard of any cases of bone cancer on dinosaur bone being
> proven?  If so, could they relate the instances? I once found some
> material that looked like it might have been disfigured by cancer, but
> am not sure. Thanks in advance.
>                                 Rocky and Philena Barney


In David Norman's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs there is 
mention of a Chasmosaurus skull with small, rounded 'holes ' in it; 
the appearance of these small bone defects is very similar to those 
seen in the disease 'multiple myeloma' in humans (so called 
'punched-out lesions': small, rounded, clearly circumscribed holes, 
looking as perforations and located on flat bones (skull, sternum, 
ribs, ilia) which still contain red marrow in adults). Multiple 
myeloma is no 'bone cancer' strictly spoken, it is a neoplastic 
disease, in which a clone of plasmocytes (a certain type of white 
blood cell that secretes antibodies or immunoglobulins) proliferates; 
this causes bone destruction (with the aid of osteoclasts) and  abnormal 
secretion of an immunoglobulin (so called 'monoclonal peak') leading 
to renal insufficiency and impaired immunity.

(However I don't know if this claim is confirmed by others.)

Pieter Depuydt