Can Ants Get Cancer?
WouterDespite recent findings that insects can detect cancer, scientists are still uncertain as to whether the technique will actually be a diagnostic tool. This study is an attempt to demonstrate the ability of ants to detect cancer. Ants have a sense of smell that is highly sensitive and has evolved to optimize this sense for its environment.
In the laboratory, scientists exposed ants to the odors of different types of cancer cells. Some cancers produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through their metabolism. These compounds are excreted in bodily fluids such as urine. Using ants, scientists hope to test the odors produced by cancer cells to find out whether they can serve as a biomarker for diagnosis.
Researchers from Sorbonne Paris Nord University in France exposed ants to a combination of two odors. One odor was a mixture of healthy human cells and the other was the odor of cancer cells. The ants were placed in a test area and were rewarded with a sugar solution when they were exposed to the cancerous odor. They were then trained to associate the odor of the cancer cells with the reward.
After the training, the ants showed significant discrimination between cancer cells and healthy cells. They remained focused on the cancerous cells after the sugar solution was removed. They were able to discriminate between cancer cells and non-cancerous cells within a few minutes of training.
Using the ants, researchers trained the ants to discriminate between two types of cancer cell lines: MDA-MD-231, a triple-negative breast cancer cell line, and MCF-7, an epithelium cancer cell line. They also learned to discriminate between two sub-types of the same cancer.
