Bees provide honey and wax to humans and are considered one of the most important plant pollinators. A new study conducted in the United States has shown that the extraordinary sensitivity of honeybees’ olfactory neurons can be used to develop new methods for the early diagnosis of lung cancer.

The use of animals’ acute sense of smell for biomedical purposes has long attracted the attention of scientists. In particular, researchers have previously conducted experiments on dog detection of various human diseases, including cancer, viral and parasitic. Recently, Canadian experts showed that assistance dogs’ sensitive noses can detect signs of stress in people with post-traumatic stress disorder from breath odor.

However, insects such as honeybees have an equally developed sense of smell and can recognize different odors at low concentrations. In addition, their use as a diagnostic tool is more economically viable.

Experts in biomedical engineering, microbiology and neuroscience from the University of Michigan (USA) in a series of experiments were convinced of the ability of bees to distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients and healthy people with volatile organic compounds. The study was published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

Scientists have created synthetic scents in the laboratory that mimic the breath of a healthy person and a cancer patient. In the second case, six volatile biomarkers of lung cancer were used at different concentrations. The resulting mixtures were then tested on two dozen bees.

For the experiments, scientists designed and 3D printed a device to keep a bee alive. The heads of the insects placed there were opened, and changes in nerve signals under the influence of various stimuli were recorded with the help of tiny electrodes placed in the part of the brain responsible for smell.

Analyzing neural responses, researchers found that bees accumulate compounds linked to lung cancer in very low concentrations. Moreover, olfactory neurons in the bee brain were able to not only distinguish the “smell” of healthy cell cultures from those affected by lung cancer, but also successfully distinguish between small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (non-small cell lung cancer). -small cell lung cancer, NSC.

According to the authors of the article, their results are important because they pave the way for the creation of new biomedical technologies for disease detection.

Scientists plan to develop a non-invasive diagnostic test based on the discoveries made in the experiment. According to the researchers’ plan, patients should breathe into a device containing a special sensor that will analyze the chemical composition of the breath, similar to the brain of bees. The new method, if created, will allow to quickly determine the type of lung cancer, which is extremely important for subsequently choosing the correct treatment strategy.

According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is one of the three most common oncological diseases on the planet, along with breast cancer and colorectal cancer. The disease is often diagnosed in the late stages when treatment options are limited.