Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, so there are constant studies on the treatment of this disease. However, some of them quite surprise the scientific community, as well as all of us. This is the case, for example, of this new research published in the journal iScience, which suggests the use of ants in the treatment of cancer. Want to understand more about this issue? Then continue reading the article.
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early treatment
In this case, the main objective is to provide a diagnosis that is early enough to design a treatment as soon as possible. After all, there is already scientific evidence that the sooner a tumor or cancer cells are identified, the better the treatment will be. Including, some types of cancer have the chances of overcoming much greater than those of complications and death from the disease.
Thus, these ants of the formica fusca type can help a lot in the elaboration of diagnoses accurate and fast, as they are capable of detecting human cancer cells around 30 minutes. Through the tests, it was possible to perceive that this species can differentiate healthy cells from those that are corrupted.
Ants smell cancer
Still according to the researchers, this detection is made through the ant's biosensors, more precisely through smell. Thus, the result for the prevention of this disease with the help of animals proved to be much more accurate when ants are used. This is because this species was not the only one to be part of the tests, but also some dogs.
Although the dogs were able to identify cancer cells by smell as well, this involves specific training that takes six to twelve months. On the other hand, in around 30 minutes, the ants were able to detect the smell pattern and thus identify the cancer.
For the time being, there is still no correct prediction of what would be done in human treatment, but it is known that there is a path to diagnosis. Thus, the studies will continue until the moment when there is a greater dimension of what can be done with this information.