Ants can be trained to detect cancer in mice

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-01-25 11:01

International

Ants can use their specialised sense of 'smell' to detect the biological signs of cancer in mouse urine, according to international researchers, who say that although this study is only a proof-of-concept, this method could be a fast, efficient, non-invasive and non-expensive way to detect cancer in humans. The team used mice infected with human breast cancer cells and trained the ants to detect the signs of this cancer in the mouse urine, finding that the ants could detect both large and small tumours.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Ants act as olfactory bio-detectors of tumours in patient-derived xenograft mice

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Summary: Cancer is a leading cause of mortality. The sooner the tumours are detected, the higher are the chances of recovery. Tumour cells produce chemical compounds that can act as cancer biomarkers. Animals can be trained to detect these chemicals. Ants have a refined sense of smell and can be easily trained with olfactory conditioning. Using urine from tumour-bearing mice as stimulus, we demonstrate that ants can learn to discriminate the odour of healthy mice from that of tumour-bearing mice. Ants reliably detect these tumour cues and have the potential to act as efficient and non-expensive cancer bio detectors.

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Formica fusca

Formica fusca ants

Journal/
conference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, France

Funder: Funding for this study came from Institut Universitaire de France to P.d.E.

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