Dogs Nose Out Prostate Cancer

by Annie Hartnett · 2010-06-03 13:00:00 UTC
Topics:

A new French study suggests that dogs may be able to smell chemicals released into urine by prostate cancer tumors.

The study, led by Jean-Nicolas Cornu, MD, of Tenon Hospital in Paris, trained a Belgian Malinois to identify urine from patients with confirmed prostate cancer. Belgian Malinois are a breed commonly used to sniff out bombs and drugs. During each experiment, the dog was given six urine samples to sniff, one of which came from a man with confirmed prostate cancer. The dog was trained to sit in front of the cancerous urine sample.

In 66 tests, the dog was correct 63 times. There were three false positives, in which the dog mistakenly identified healthy samples as being cancerous. There were no false negatives. And one of the three false positives may not have been false at all — when the man who provided the "healthy" urine sample had another biopsy, he turned out to have prostate cancer. The dog may have already saved one life.

Currently, the Prostate-specific Antigen (PSA) test is used to detect a protein produced by cells of the prostate gland. The test measures the level of PSA in the blood, but it has a high false-positive rate. The dog produced fewer false positives than the PSA test.

Once the researchers determine what chemicals the dog is smelling, they are hoping to develop an "electronic nose" for more accurate prostate cancer detection.

In the United States, one in six men will receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer during his lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society.

Man's best friend indeed.

Photo Credit: Photo8.com

Annie Hartnett is a writer and animal advocate who has worked for several wildlife rehabilitation centers and environmental programs.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Wild Bison Moved From Yellowstone to Bison Burger Ranch
NEXT STORY:
Petitions Delivered Around the World for Release of Indonesian Circus Dolphins

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.