Health: ants “trained” to detect cancers

French researchers have succeeded in teaching ants to detect cancers using their sense of smell.

A success rate of 95%

French researchers from the CNRS, Inserm, Sorbonne Paris-Nord University and the Curie Institute have taught ants to detect cancers via smell. The ants trained are able to steer themselves by scent to containers with diseased cells placed next to other containers with healthy cells inside.
According to the scientists, the results of their research show a success rate of 95%, reports Francetvinfo.fr. During the experiment, the researchers placed a drop of sugar water next to the samples containing cancer cells. Very quickly, the ant assimilated the food to the particular smell of the diseased cells.

Still in experimental phase

A hundred of ants were trained to detect three cancer cell lines: ovarian cancer cells and two types of breast cancer cells. “There’s no reason to think it won’t work for other types of cancer cells,” commented one of the researchers. So far, the effectiveness of “sniffer” ants is mainly tested in the laboratory.

Admittedly, dogs manage to detect breast cancer from perspiration odors, but working with ants has more advantages. Ants learn faster than dogs and they cost less to breed. By way of comparison, it only takes regarding ten minutes to train an ant, compared to six months to a year to train a dog.

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