Yara Haridy, MS; Florian Witzmann, PhD; Patrick Asbach, MD;Â Rainer R. Schoch, PhD; Nadia FrÃbisch, PhD; Bruce M. Rothschild, MD (2019)
Triassic Cancer--Osteosarcoma in a 240-Million-Year-Old Stem-Turtle.
JAMA Oncology (advance online publication)Â
doi:10.1001/jamaoncol.2018.6766
Paleopathology, the study of ancient disease, is a vital way by which we understand the evolution of pathogens, immune systems, healing physiology, and ultimately the environment. Cancer research has focused on its prevalence in various organisms and has found that although some animals have a high propensity for cancer, others seem to be resistant. The prevalence of cancer in the tree of life is certainly interesting, but its antiquity should be regarded with equal interest considering the increase in human cancer, which has been related to environmental and genetic changes, and the extreme rarity of cancer in the fossil record.3 This study documents bone cancer in a 240-million-year-old reptilian amniote from the Triassic period, which adds an important data point to the history of cancer in tetrapod evolution. Herein, we present a case study of an osteosarcoma, a highly malignant bone tumor, on the femur of the shell-less stem-turtle Pappochelys rosinae (Figure 1) from the middle Triassic period of present-day Germany. The appearance of the tumor on this specimen conforms with present-day periosteal osteosarcoma in humans.
Methods
The specimen described herein consists of an isolated, left femur collected in 2013 in southwestern Germany and is curated at the Staatliches Museum fÃr Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Germany, under inventory number SMNS 91680. This specimen was macroscopically investigated at the Museum fÃr Naturkunde Berlin using a Wild M3C stereo binocular microscope, and a micro-computed tomography (CT) scan was performed using a GE Phoenix nanotom scanner. The resulting 3-dimensional volumes were analyzed using the visualization software Volume Graphics Studio MAX 2.2. Institutional review board approval was waived because no live animals were used.
Results
The virtual sections produced by the micro-CT scans allow the delineation of the compact cortex and the interior cancellous bone and facilitate a detailed analysis of the mass in the femur (Figure 2). The most affected region of the femur is the dorsal side of its proximal half. In the transverse section, the original dense cortical bone is easily distinguishable from the overlying mass (Figure 2B and C). The original compact bone is not resorbed or disturbed, the medullary cavity is not penetrated at any point along the shaft, and there are no penetrating lesions, canals, or foramina present.
Discussion
Owing to the fossilized nature of the specimen, the mass on the femur is diagnosed as a periosteal osteosarcoma based on the following radiomorphological observations5: (1) broad-based attachment of the mass to the entirely contiguous cortical bone (ruling out exostosis6); (2) spicular outgrowths from the cortex to the exterior of the mass (ruling out osteoma and ossifying fibroma); (3) lack of medullary involvement; (4) absence of large lytic lesions or effect on the native cortex; and (5) the rugose, pocked external texture of the mass. Osteosarcoma types are dependent on degree of differentiation, location within the bone, and histological features.5 Although a parostotic osteosarcoma has been reported in an Early Triassic amphibian,6 the periosteal osteosarcoma in a Middle Triassic stem-turtle described herein is, to our knowledge, the oldest instance of bone cancer in an amniote. As is common in paleopathology, this study is limited by the lack of histopathological confirmation because soft tissues are not preserved; therefore, tumor-specific staining is impossible. Thus, the fossil record is biased toward hard tissues, which is the only way to understand the occurrence of disease in deep time.
This study provides evidence that unregulated neoplastic cell growth occurred as early as the Triassic period and that cancer is not a modern physiological defect but rather a vulnerability that is rooted deep in vertebrate evolutionary history.
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Pappochelys, the 240 million year old turtle ancestor with cancer
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Sean P. Modesto, Courtney D. Richards, Oumarou Ide & Christian A. Sidor (2019)
The vertebrate fauna of the Upper Permian of Niger--X. The mandible of the captorhinid reptile Moradisaurus grandis.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Article: e1531877 (advance online publication)
Recent field work in the upper Permian Moradi Formation of Niger has yielded new material of the late-occurring and largest moradisaurine captorhinid, Moradisaurus grandis. The material includes two right hemimandibles, which represent individuals that are slightly smaller than the holotype. The smaller size of these mandibles, together with evidence in the form of tooth replacement, strongly suggest that the new material is ontogenetically younger than the holotype. The available evidence implies that tooth rows were added during growth in M. grandis. The mandible of M. grandis is distinguished from other moradisaurines in the extreme lingual extension of the tooth plate, which forms a dental shelf or plateau that supports the three lingual-most rows of teeth. In addition, a mentomeckelian bone is preserved, the first to be reported in a Paleozoic reptile. In contrast to the conspicuous wear documented on the teeth of certain other moradisaurines, wear facets are not observed on the teeth of the M. grandis specimens described here. The absence of tooth wear is surprising because the articular morphology of M. grandis is virtually identical to, albeit slightly larger than, that of Labidosaurikos meachami, for which propalinal jaw movement was first inferred in a moradisaurine. A phylogenetic analysis incorporating the new anatomical information confirms the hypothesis that M. grandis forms a clade with Rothianiscus multidontus and Gansurhinus qingtoushanensis within Moradisaurinae, and positions Captorhinikos chozaensis as the basal-most member of the subfamily.
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Arnaud Brignon (2019)
Charles de Gerville et les premiers restes de Plesiosauria signalÃs dans le Jurassique infÃrieur de France (Hettangien, rÃgion de Valognes, Manche)
[Charles de Gerville and the first remains of Plesiosauria reported in the Lower Jurassic of France (Hettangian, Valognes region, Manche department)]
Comptes Rendus Palevol (advance online publication),
The historian, archaeologist, and naturalist Charles de Gerville (1769â1853) reported as early as January 1816 the presence of fossil bones in the quarries of the region of Valognes, in the department of Manche. These quarries exploited the "Calcaire de Valognes" and the underlying "Argiles et Calcaires dâHuberville", both formations dated as Lower Hettangian (Lower Jurassic). De Gerville communicated to Jacques-Louis-Marin Defrance a watercolour drawing of one of these fossil bones, discovered in July 1820, in which it is possible to recognize a plesiosaur femur. This femur, as well as a fragment of rib and three vertebrae of Plesiosauria from de Gerville's collection, was then figured in a publication by Arcisse de Caumont, in 1825. The plesiosaur femur was later acquired by Pierre Tesson of Caen, who owned one of the most important collections of fossils in Normandy. The Tesson collection was later purchased in 1857 by the British Museum (now The Natural History Museum, London), where the femur has been rediscovered. This specimen is the first known plesiosaur specimen ever discovered in the Lower Jurassic of France, before the genus Plesiosaurus was established upon material from the Lias of southwestern England. One of the vertebrae figured by de Caumont has been rediscovered in the "MusÃum Emmanuel-Liais" (Cherbourg-en-Cotentin), which had acquired part of de Gerville's collection. The interpretation of the "fossil bones of Valognes" by Georges Cuvier, Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, Arcisse de Caumont, Jacques-Amand Eudes-Deslongchamps and Constant DumÃril is revealed through unpublished documents.