Developing a new method for the identification of cancer in archaeological populations

癌症是世界范围内死亡的主要原因，骨转移是其高发病率和死亡率的重要原因。该项目开发了新的方法学方法，以确定癌症并将其与考古人群中的其他疾病区分开来。该项目提高了对过去癌症患病率的了解，为这种疾病的病因学、流行病学和演变提供了信息。这项研究建立在长期的古生物病理学研究的生物人类学传统上，揭示了疾病的流行和进化历史。通过发展和完善鉴定骨癌的技术，该项目为在世患者的癌症诊断提供了新的方法。从这项研究中得到的信息对今天更好地理解癌症治疗效果至关重要。该项目为不同的学生和社区提供研究和培训机会。本研究验证了衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR-ATR）在准确识别骨转移病变生化特征方面的适用性。该方法在100名已知死因为癌症的人和50名未患癌症的人中进行了试验。本研究中分析的个体来自有记录的骨骼收藏。在癌症队列中，FTIR分析与高分辨率显微ct图像相补充。制定了FTIR-ATR协议，并提供了基于网络的数据集，为比较研究提供信息。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world, and bone metastasis significantly contributes to its high morbidity and mortality. This project develops new methodological approaches to identify cancer and to distinguish it from other diseases in archaeological human populations. This project improves the understanding of cancer prevalence in the past, informing the etiology, epidemiology, and evolution of this disease. This study builds on the long-standing bio-anthropological tradition of paleopathological studies that uncover the prevalence and evolutionary history of diseases. By developing and refining a technique for identifying bone cancers in documented skeletal remains the project contributes new methods for cancer diagnosis in living patients. The information resulting from this study is fundamental to better comprehension of cancer treatment effectiveness today. The project provides research and training opportunities to diverse students and communities. This study tests the applicability of Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) to accurately identify the biochemical signatures of bone lesions caused by metastasis. The method is tested in 100 individuals whose known cause of death is cancer and 50 individuals without cancer. The individuals analyzed in this study stem from documented skeletal collections. FTIR analysis is complemented with high resolution micro-CT images in the cancer cohort. An FTIR-ATR protocol is developed, and a web-based dataset is made available to inform comparative studies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.