Grasshoppers can smell cancer!  

New development that could lead to revolutionary diagnosis

Michigan State University scientists have demonstrated that grasshoppers can distinguish healthy human cells from cancerous ones using their sense of smell. In fact, they can distinguish certain cells that, in addition to the presence of cancer, may also reveal to us what kind of cancer it is. These developments promise to revolutionize the detection of cancer earlier, significantly improving the chances of survival.

The research is on BioRxiv pending publication. Locust detection is measurable thanks to changes in brain activity, which are detected by electrodes, and the results show to be reliable, highly sensitive and obtained in just a few milliseconds.

Early detection of cancer is very important and we need to use every tool we can for this, whether it is mechanical or comes from millions of years of natural selection. If we achieve this, cancer will be a curable disease.

Locusts have a highly developed sense of smell and can detect the volatile organic compounds that we exhale with our breath, which are altered by the presence of cancer by interfering with the metabolic processes of cells.

By attaching electrodes to the grasshoppers’ brains, the scientists were able to measure the insects’ response to gas samples from different cells, so they could map the chemicals they smelled. The difference between healthy cells and cancer cells is clear.

This particular research was limited to oral cancers, but the researchers are sure that other types of cancers can be detected in the same way.

The chances of survival from different types of cancers range from 10-20% if the diagnosis is made when the cancer has already reached the fourth stage and is starting to spread to other parts of the body. But if it is detected in the first stage, the chances of survival increase to 80-90%.

Efforts are already being made for “bionic noses”, devices that will be able to detect these changes in the particles of the breath, but in no way do they yet reach the physical sensors that nature has created. Now the scientists intend to map the processes of the grasshopper’s brain and through reverse engineering create a path to create such devices.

In theory, we will be able to breathe into a device that will detect and identify the different types of cancer, even the stage of the disease. However, such a device is not yet close to being used in a clinical setting.