June 20, 2016.
The sense of smell of dogs could soon allow the detection of breast cancer. Next September, in Haute-Vienne, two Malinois shepherds will begin their training in the detection of cancerous tumors.
An unprecedented association between oncologists and dog lovers
What if dogs could use their sense of smell to detect the presence of cancer? This is the bet that are launched scientists from the Institut Curie, chemists from the Paris School of Physics and Industrial Chemistry and dog experts. Their goal: to teach dogs to recognize the scent of breast cancer.
The project was called Kdog, and for this first trial phase, two Malinois shepherds, Thor and Nykios, will be involved. Bred in Haute-Vienne by a great dog specialist, Jacky Experton, these two dogs will begin their training next September.. During a first learning phase, the two dogs will be trained using tissues impregnated with the perspiration of patients suffering from breast cancer, as well as tumor samples.
A simple and inexpensive method to detect tumors
In a second phase of the test, Thor and Nykios will be confronted with different tissues, some imbued with the smell of patients with breast cancer, others of healthy people.. Those ” different learning phases are necessary to lower the sensitivity threshold of dogs », Explain the people in charge of the Kdog project on the website dedicated to the project.
Based on these initial results, the Institut Curie will decide whether or not to continue the experiment with a larger-scale clinical trial.. The promoters of the project are rather optimistic and are already praising a ” reliable, simple and inexpensive detection method ” who ” will thus be perfectly adapted and reproducible in emerging countries, where many cancers are simply not detected “.
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