A dinosaur species was described for the first time in 1824 after scientists put a name to Megalosaurus fossils. However, people had been finding dinosaur bones long before that, and we continue to find more today. What hasn’t been quite as common is soft tissue remaining in the fossils, but new research shows that when there is any left, it could help us better understand cancer.

A study recently published in the journal Biology used Scanning Electron Microcopy techniques to analyze the tissue of Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed herbivorous hadrosaur. In past research, a specimen was found to have a cancer called ameloblastoma. This new study helped identify structures similar to red blood cells in the dinosaur’s remains.

The findings suggest that it may be more common to find soft tissue in dinosaur fossils than we’d thought. The team says that finding – and preserving – more of it could help us understand how cancer evolved, how evolution in extinct species influenced cancer susceptibility and resistance, and how we may be able to apply these findings to the cancers of today. It may even help with treatments for humans.

Justin Stebbing, senior author and Professor of Biomedical Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K., says, “Dinosaurs, as long-lived, large-bodied organisms, present a compelling case for investigating how species managed cancer susceptibility and resistance over millions of years.

“Proteins, particularly those found in calcified tissues like bone, are more stable than DNA and are less susceptible to degradation and contamination. This makes them ideal candidates for studying ancient diseases, including cancer, in paleontological specimens.”

In order to continue this sort of research, the team says it’s essential to conserve fossils, especially as increasingly advanced molecular study techniques are developed.

In the meantime, if you’d like to contribute to current cancer research in humans, click here!