Preserved soft tissue in a 70-million-year-old dinosaur fossil has revealed red blood cell-like structures — offering tantalizing clues about ancient diseases and how they might inform modern cancer research.
Key Points at a Glance
- Red blood cell-like structures discovered in a fossilized dinosaur bone
- Study highlights value of preserving fossilized soft tissue, not just skeletons
- Advanced paleoproteomics opens new doors in ancient disease research
- Findings may guide future cancer research and treatment development
- Telmatosaurus fossil also linked to prior evidence of prehistoric cancer
Dinosaurs may be long extinct, but their fossilized remains are revealing more than just skeletal anatomy. A new study from Anglia Ruskin University and Imperial College London has uncovered red blood cell-like structures in the fossilized femur of a Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed herbivorous dinosaur from Romania that lived around 70 million years ago. Their discovery suggests that soft tissues — and even molecular signatures of ancient disease — may be more common in fossils than previously thought.
The research team used Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and paleoproteomic techniques to identify these erythrocyte-like features in bone tissue, revealing that cellular preservation can survive deep time under the right conditions. This breakthrough may have significant implications for understanding how long-extinct species managed diseases like cancer — and what we might learn from their biology today.
“Unlike skeletal structures alone, soft tissues contain proteins that provide molecular information that can reveal the underlying biological mechanisms of disease,” the study authors explain. Proteins, particularly those embedded in mineral-rich tissues like bone, are more chemically stable than DNA and less prone to degradation. That makes them ideal for reconstructing biological processes from prehistory — including pathological ones.
The Telmatosaurus specimen is no stranger to disease research. A previous study identified what appears to be evidence of cancer in the same dinosaur species. Now, the new molecular insights support the notion that diseases such as cancer have deep evolutionary roots, possibly affecting ancient reptiles in ways not unlike those seen in mammals today.
Lead researchers argue this is only the beginning. As paleoproteomic methods improve, scientists may uncover preserved proteins and biomarkers across a broader range of fossils — enabling them to track how disease has evolved over geological timescales. These insights could inform new approaches to cancer prevention and treatment, grounded in millions of years of biological history.
To make that future possible, the study urges paleontologists and institutions to re-evaluate how they preserve and prioritize fossil specimens. It’s not just the bones that matter — it’s the fragile tissues and biomolecules hidden within. “Our research invites further exploration that could hold the key to future discoveries that benefit humans,” the authors conclude.
From the depths of Romania’s Hateg Basin to cutting-edge labs in the UK, the story of Telmatosaurus is evolving — from prehistoric herbivore to unlikely collaborator in the fight against cancer.
Source: Anglia Ruskin University
