The discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old Egyptian mummy suggests that genetics, rather than environment may play a bigger role in the development of the disease, researchers say.

An international research team identified the cancer in a Ptolemic mummy, kept at the National Archaeology Museum of Lisbon, using high-resolution computerised tomography (CT) scans.
Known only as M1, the mummy was that of a 5ft 5ins adult man who had lived between around 285-30BC, and aged between 51 and 60 when he died.

CT images revealed several small, round, dense bone lesions found mainly in the mummy's pelvis, spine and nearby limbs, indicative of prostate cancer.

"The bone lesions were considered very suggestive of metastatic prostate cancer they wrote," in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

It is the oldest case of prostate cancer in ancient Egypt and the second oldest case in the world, the researchers said.

Lifestyle and the environment are often cited as key factors in the development of many types of cancer.

(COLLECTED INFORMATION)