Publication detail

Identification of Sarcosine as a Target Molecule for the Canine Olfactory Detection of Prostate Carcinoma

PACÍK, D. PLEVOVÁ, M. URBANOVÁ, L. LACKOVÁ, Z. STRMISKA, V. NEČAS, A. HEGER, Z. ADAM, V.

Original Title

Identification of Sarcosine as a Target Molecule for the Canine Olfactory Detection of Prostate Carcinoma

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

The hypothesis that dogs can detect malignant tumours through the identification of specific molecules is nearly 30 years old. To date, several reports have described the successful detection of distinct types of cancer. However, is still a lack of data regarding the specific molecules that can be recognized by a dog's olfactory apparatus. Hence, we performed a study with artificially prepared, well-characterized urinary specimens that were enriched with sarcosine, a widely reported urinary biomarker for prostate cancer (PCa). For the purposes of the study, a German shepherd dog was utilized for analyses of 60 positive and 120 negative samples. Our study provides the first evidence that a sniffer dog specially trained for the olfactory detection of PCa can recognize sarcosine in artificial urine with a performance [sensitivity of 90%, specificity of 95%, and precision of 90% for the highest amount of sarcosine (10 mu mol/ L)] that is comparable to the identification of PCa-diagnosed subjects (sensitivity of 93.5% and specificity of 91.6%). This study casts light on the unrevealed phenomenon of PCa olfactory detection and opens the door for further studies with canine olfactory detection and cancer diagnostics.

Keywords

prostate cancer (PCa); sarcosine; sniffer dog

Authors

PACÍK, D.; PLEVOVÁ, M.; URBANOVÁ, L.; LACKOVÁ, Z.; STRMISKA, V.; NEČAS, A.; HEGER, Z.; ADAM, V.

Released

1. 12. 2018

Publisher

Springer Nature

ISBN

2045-2322

Periodical

Scientific Reports

Year of study

8

Number

4958

State

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Pages from

1

Pages to

5

Pages count

5

URL

Full text in the Digital Library

BibTex

@article{BUT147109,
  author="Dalibor {Pacík} and Mariana {Plevová} and Lucie {Urbanová} and Zuzana {Lacková} and Vladislav {Strmiska} and Alois {Nečas} and Zbyněk {Heger} and Vojtěch {Adam}",
  title="Identification of Sarcosine as a Target Molecule for the Canine Olfactory Detection of Prostate Carcinoma",
  journal="Scientific Reports",
  year="2018",
  volume="8",
  number="4958",
  pages="1--5",
  doi="10.1038/s41598-018-23072-4",
  issn="2045-2322",
  url="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1038/s41598-018-23072-4"
}