Dogs can sniff out ovarian cancer: Study

Woman's best friend! Researchers have trained dogs to sniff out the signature chemical compound that indicates the presence of ovarian cancer with 100 % accuracy.

Ohlin Frank, a trained chocolate Labrador has been able to detect ovarian cancer tissue 100 % of the time, researchers said.

Frank and its fellow trainee, McBaine Chamberlain, a spunky springer spaniel, are a part of an interdisciplinary research project at the University of Pennsylvania to help scientists discover a chemical footprint that might lead to earlier diagnostic tests to save human lives.

They are among 15 carefully bred detection dogs learning to sniff out explosives, drugs and missing people. Researchers are using the keen sense of smell of the dogs to identify the earliest odour of ovarian cancer, a silent killer often diagnosed too late.

Cancer cells leave a detectable biomarker, just as asparagus can affect the smell of urine when eaten.

A researcher hopes the dogs can be trained to narrow down a specific odour within two years, so scientists can design an inexpensive and less-invasive blood test to catch ovarian cancer while it's still treatable.

"All dogs are really good at sniffing, but part of what gives them a huge advantage over us is the surface area of the olfactory receptors," he said.

The dogs have already been introduced to the cancer tissue smell and were taught to sit when they found it.

His work builds on a 2010 Swedish study, which used pet giant schnauzers to detect ovarian cancer. Tissue tests showed sensitivity of 100 per cent and specificity of 95 per cent; blood tests showed sensitivity of 100 per cent and specificity of 98 per cent, the report said. Dogs with long noses have the largest surface areas of olfactory receptors, said researchers. 

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