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

癌症是世界范围内的主要死亡原因，骨转移是其高发病率和高死亡率的重要原因。该项目开发了新的方法来识别癌症，并将其与考古人类人口中的其他疾病区分开来。这个项目提高了对过去癌症患病率的了解，为这种疾病的病因、流行病学和演变提供了信息。这项研究建立在古病理学研究的长期生物人类学传统的基础上，揭示疾病的流行和进化史。通过开发和改进一种在有记录的骨骼遗骸中识别骨癌的技术，该项目为活着的患者的癌症诊断贡献了新的方法。这项研究得出的信息是更好地理解当今癌症治疗效果的基础。该项目为不同的学生和社区提供研究和培训机会。本研究测试了衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR-ATR)技术在准确识别骨转移瘤的生化特征方面的适用性。该方法在100名已知死因是癌症的人和50名非癌症人中进行了测试。这项研究中分析的个体来自有记录的骨骼收集。FTIR分析补充了癌症队列中的高分辨率显微CT图像。开发了FTIR-ATR协议，并提供了一个基于Web的数据集，用于为比较研究提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.