“Insects have an amazing sense of smell, just like dogs“, explains Professor Debajit Saha from Michigan State University. This ability is particularly interesting in the fight against cancer. The scientist and her team discovered that bees are able to “smell” lung cancer. Their discovery was published in the journal. Biosensors and bioelectronics.
Lung cancer: Bees detect small concentrations of biomarkers
To determine whether bees have the ability to detect cancer biomarkers in contact with human breath, the researchers developed a “recipe” to artificially recreate the chemical composition of the breath of a person with lung cancer as well as healthy breath. They then attached an electrode to the brains of 20 bees to monitor changes in brain signals. Tests confirmed that there was a nervous response when they were in contact with the resulting odors.
The scientists then wanted to measure the amount of cancer indicator compounds that would need to be present in a person's breath for the insect to be able to detect lung cancer. ““The bees detected very small concentrations: a very good result.”“, explains Professor Debjit Saha in A I reported. ““Bees can distinguish minute changes in chemical concentrations of the respiratory mixture, which are on the order of parts per billion (concentration scale: millimeters per cubic metre).”
Furthermore, the brain data collected allowed the identification of several different neurons in the bees' brains. “Which clearly distinguished between artificial respiration for lung cancer and healthy respiration.”
Bees are able to distinguish between lung cancers
Second, the team sought to determine whether bees could detect cancer biomarkers in human lung cancer cell cultures. In this experiment, insects with an electrode measuring their brain waves were placed in contact with different types of samples placed in sealed vials. The doctors on the same day that the basic use of this capteur on the service allows for the removal of cellulite issues from poumon cancer in petite cellules provenant from poumon cancer other than petite cells or people. In good health.
“What's amazing is the bees' ability to not only detect cancer cells, but also differentiate cell lines for different types of lung cancer.”“, explains Autumn McLean Svoboda, who worked on this project. “The future implications of this are huge, as our sensor could enable patients to receive specific cancer diagnoses quickly, which is essential for the right treatment pathways.”
Faced with these differing results, Professor Saha's team plans to develop a non-invasive test that requires patients to breathe into a device equipped with a sensor based on bee brains. The latter analyzes breath and reports in real time the presence of cancerous chemicals.
