Scientists in France discovered that ants have the ability to detect the smell of cancer in the urine of people with a tumor, because several types of cancer change the smell of urine.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, found that the insects could be used as a cost-effective way to detect cancer in patients.
“Ants can be used as a bioreactor to distinguish between healthy and tumor-bearing individuals. They are easy to train, learn quickly, are highly efficient, and are not expensive,” said study author Patricia Dettori from the Sorbonne Paris-Nord.
How was the study conducted?
- This research builds on an earlier study by Dettori and colleagues, which showed that ants were able to “sniff out” human cancer cells that had been created in the laboratory.
- In the current study, the researchers exposed 70 Formica fusca ants to urine samples from mice with and without tumors.
- After 3 trials, the ants were able to distinguish between the odor of the urine of healthy mice and the scent of mice with tumors.
How do ants do it?
The reason the ants are able to do this, the researchers said, is because they have a “very sensitive olfactory system”.
In this regard, Dettori said:
- “We trained the ants to associative learn to associate a particular scent – the crab – with a reward, and after very few trials they learned the association.
- Associative learning is the process by which humans and other organisms create an association between two or more phenomena, in this case the detection of a cancer odor was associated with a reward.
- The study showed that ants can distinguish between the urine of healthy mice and the urine of tumor-bearing mice, and we were surprised at how efficient and reliable the ants were.
What happens next?
- As part of the next steps, the researchers want to see if ants can do the same thing to human urine.
- Previous research has shown that dogs can detect cancer by sniffing their urine, after being trained to do so.
- There are also electronic devices that can detect certain types of cancer – such as bladder, breast or prostate – from urine samples.
- However, the human nose cannot pick up the scent of cancer in urine.
