Historical landmarks in the understanding of the lymphomas

Abstract

Cancer, generically, has been an affliction of complex species, notably but not exclusively mammals, presumably since their evolution. The presence of cancer in ancient times has been suggested by holes in bones found in ossuaries or in the remains of mummies, which in some cases have been thought to be lesions indicative of myeloma. Metastatic cancer was considered if the lesions had osteoblastic features and myeloma was thought probable if osteolysis alone was present [1, 2]. Differences in reproductive patterns, life expectancy, diet, tobacco and alcohol use, and exercise should lead to differences in cancer prevalence today, compared to the frequency in ancient societies. One study has concluded that, corrected for sex and age distributions of ancient populations, Upper Egyptian societies, circa 3200 to 500 B.C.E., Southern German populations, circa 1400 to 1800 C.E., and British populations, circa 1901 to 1905 C.E., may have had similar frequencies of cancer as in modern times [1]. Paleo-pathology or, more specifically, paleo-oncology, is fraught with the challenge of artifacts, some of which occur postmortem and do not reflect antemortem disease; thus, the conclusion that lesions found in mummies in societies that preserved corpses (e.g., Egyptian, Incan, Papua New Guinean) represent the residue of cancers has been challenged [1-3]. Soft tissue cancers, such as lymphoma, would be very hard to discern after thousands of years of internment, but cancers have been described in Egyptian and Peruvian mummies.