Ants are able to ‘sniff out’ cancer cells, French scientists reveal

‘Ants are very easy to train and are not expensive to keep. We were surprised by how efficient they are’

ANTS can detect the scent of cancer, scientists have found.

Several types of cancer have been found to alter the smell of urine, but only some species can detect the different scents. In their findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, scientists have for the first time found that ants have this ability and that the species could be used as a cost-effective way to identify cancer in patients.

Study author Prof Patrizia d’ettorre, of Sorbonne Paris Nord University in Paris, France, said: “Ants can be used as bio-detectors to discriminate healthy individuals from tumor-bearing ones.

They are very easy to train, they learn fast and are not expensive to keep.”

This research builds on a previous study by Prof d’ettorre and her colleagues where they showed ants were able to “sniff out” human cancer cells grown in the lab.

The researchers exposed 70 ants – belonging to the species known as Formica fusca – to urine samples from mice with, and without, tumours.

After three trials, the ants were able to tell the difference between the urine odour of healthy mice from that of tumour-bearing mice.

Prof d’ettorre said: “We trained them with associative learning to associate a given odour – cancer – with a reward and they learned the association.

“We demonstrated that ants can discriminate the urine of healthy mice from the urine of tumour-bearing mice.

“We were surprised by how efficient and reliable the ants are.”

Previous research has shown dogs can detect cancer from the smell of urine after being trained to do so.

There are also electronic devices that can detect cancers such as bladder, breast or prostate from urine samples.