Beagles Take On Cancer Detection
Iceman, a beagle, showcases the remarkable sense of smell his breed is known for. Spotitearly, a health startup, is utilizing this incredible ability to develop a test aimed at pre-screening for cancer in hopes of boosting early detection rates. According to CEO Shlomi Madar, “Only 14% of newly diagnosed cancers in the U.S. are screened regularly, so not many people actually get tested on time.”
The testing process is straightforward. Madar explains, “All we ask the patient to do is wear a mask for a few minutes, take a breath, put it in a capsule and send it back to the lab.” Once the sample is received, the beagle gets to work identifying the four most common cancer types: breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancer. In Spotitearly’s initial clinical trial, the dogs achieved a 94% accuracy rate in detecting cancer. “We pride ourselves on being able to catch cancer as early as stage 1. If we catch cancer early enough, we can actually increase survival rates to 99%,” he adds.
Beagles were selected for this task because their sense of smell is 100,000 times more acute than that of humans, meaning they can detect something as minute as half a teaspoon of sugar in an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The lab harnesses both the dogs’ abilities and artificial intelligence to analyze breath samples. Madar elaborates, “We’re monitoring the dog’s behavior and physiological signals, so we’re looking at things like the dog’s heart rate and acceleration. All that massive amount of information feeds into machine learning algorithms, which actually improve over time.”
Each beagle involved must already be trained as a detection dog, followed by a specialized training regimen focused on recognizing specific cancer types. “We take full advantage of redundancy, which means every sample is sniffed multiple times by the entire herd, rather than by one dog,” Madar notes.
Your healthcare provider will deliver the results within a few days and suggest next steps if the test yields a positive result. Madar emphasizes that this test isn’t a substitute for a doctor’s visit. Additionally, individuals can pre-order a test kit, which is currently undergoing clinical research in the United States, but is anticipated to be commercially available next year.
Madar mentioned that Spotitearly could expand its capabilities to detect even more cancer types if more beagles are trained for those specific scents. Any dogs that don’t succeed in training will be donated to families with special needs.
