A prospective trial for breast cancer diagnosis by canine odorology
Breast cancer (BC) is a major health concern affecting millions of women worldwide. This study (NCT04217109) explores canine odorology as a method for identifying BC using patient sweat samples. To collect the sweat samples, the night before biopsies, a compress is applied to the affected breast and the sample is subsequently presented to two trained dogs during the training or testing sessions. A positive cancer detection is indicated if a dog halts in front of the compress. A total of 181 patients participate, 107 with breast cancer (82 invasive and 25 in situ) and 74 with benign lesions. Sensitivity (Se) is 68% and specificity (Sp) 27% for a single randomly selected dog. When at least one dog marks a sample, Se rises to 80.4% but Sp drops to 21.6%. If both dogs mark it, Se is 48.6% and Sp 45.9%. Results show limited ability to distinguish benign from malignant lesions. Dogs perform best with mixed samples but struggle when all are negative, with variable responses between dogs. Identifying BC-specific volatile compounds may improve accuracy.
Authors
- Marie-Rose El Bejjani
- S. Alran
- Edouard Poncelet
- Sylvain Dureau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7104-185X)
- Alexia Savignoni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0009-3174)
- Benoı̂t Mesurolle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4610-9995)
- Caroline Gilbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9957-405X)
- Pierre Bauër (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2598-593X)
- Élise Deluche (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8474-3116)
- A. Langer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8365-4939)
- Amir Kadi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-0109-2070)
- F. Dravet
- Michelle Leemans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2028-2610)
- Isabelle Fromantin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5899-0794)
- Anne Tardivon
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Inserm (FR)
- École Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort (FR)
- Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR)
- Institut Génétique Nantes Atlantique (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
- Hôpital Paris Saint-Joseph (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier René-Dubos (FR)
- Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (FR)
- Centre Hospitalier de Valenciennes (FR)
- Hôpital Dupuytren (FR)
- Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale (FR)
- Institut Curie (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65655-6
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Chemical Sensor Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Royal Canin
- Direction Générale de l’offre de Soins