都說狗鼻子靈，但是科學家近日發現，螞蟻的鼻子比狗還靈。只需短時間的訓練，螞蟻就能迅速識別出人體的癌細胞，甚至還能區分不同癌細胞，未來或可大量應用于臨床診斷。

Ants have the ability to sniff out cancerous cells in humans, a new study has discovered, suggesting they could be used for cancer diagnosis in future.

一項新研究發現，螞蟻能嗅出人體內的癌細胞，這表明螞蟻可用于未來對癌癥的診斷。

Researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) discovered that ant species Formica fusca has a well developed sense of smell.

法國國家科學研究中心的研究人員發現，絲光褐林蟻的嗅覺非常發達。

It was able to differentiate cancerous cells from healthy cells in humans, thanks to their sense of smell, limited trials revealed. But more clinical tests must be carried out before they could be used in clinical settings like hospitals, the team said.

有限的試驗顯示，這種螞蟻的嗅覺超強，能夠將人體的癌細胞同健康細胞區分開來。但是該研究團隊表示，還需要進行更多臨床測試才能將絲光褐林蟻用于醫院等臨床環境中。

They suggest that in future, ants could turn out to be better at dogs when it comes to locating cancerous cells in humans.

研究人員指出，未來在識別人體癌細胞方面，螞蟻可能會比狗做得更出色。

To conduct their research, the scientists performed tests with 36 ants, smelling cells under a laboratory setting.

為了開展這一研究，科學家用36只螞蟻進行了測試，讓它們在實驗室環境中聞細胞的氣味。

First, the specialists exposed the ants to the smell of a sample of cancerous human cells. This odor was then associated with a reward of sugar solution.

首先，科學家讓螞蟻聞一份人體癌細胞的樣本，每當螞蟻聞癌細胞，就會給它們糖液獎勵。

In a second step, the researchers exposed the ants to two different odors. One was a new smell and the second was the smell of the cancerous cells.

接下來，研究人員讓螞蟻聞兩種不同的氣味。一種是新氣味，另一種是癌細胞的氣味。

Once this test was successful, the researchers exposed the ants to different cancerous cells.

這一測試獲得成功后，研究人員又讓螞蟻聞兩種不同的癌細胞。

As such, the scientists found that 'ants discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells and between two cancerous lines.'

于是，科學家發現“螞蟻能將癌細胞和健康細胞區分開來，也能分辨不同的癌細胞”。

After training, Formica fusca ants are able to detect volatile organic compounds emitted by cancerous cells.

經過訓練，絲光褐林蟻能夠識別出癌細胞散發出的揮發性有機化合物。

'This first study shows that ants have high potential, are capable of learning very quickly, at lower cost, and are efficient,' points out CNRS in a news release.

法國國家科學研究中心在一份新聞稿中指出：“這項初步研究表明，螞蟻擁有巨大的潛力和快速的學習能力，不僅成本低還高效。”

This isn't the first time that scientists have used the animal sense of smell to locate cancerous cells.

這不是科學家第一次利用動物嗅覺來識別癌細胞。

'Dogs' noses are well suited for medical diagnosis and used for the detection of cancer-specific [volatile organic compounds],' the researchers explained.

研究人員解釋道：“狗鼻子很適合用于醫療診斷以及識別癌細胞（的揮發性有機化合物）。”

However, training them to do so requires several months to a year.

但是，讓狗學會識別癌細胞需要長達幾個月至一年的訓練。

On the other hand, 'insects can be easily reared in controlled conditions, they are inexpensive, they have a very well-developed olfactory system and hundreds of individuals can be conditioned with very few trials,' the researchers point out.

研究人員指出，與此同時，“在受控條件下養殖昆蟲很容易，成本低廉，而且昆蟲嗅覺發達，只需幾次測試就能訓練出數百只昆蟲。”

'Ants therefore represent a fast, efficient, inexpensive, and highly discriminant detection tool for detection of cancer cell volatiles,' the team explained.

該團隊解釋說：“因此螞蟻作為識別癌細胞揮發物的工具，既快速、高效、廉價，辨別力又強。”

'Our approach could potentially be adapted to a range of other complex odor detection tasks including the detection of narcotics, explosives, spoiled food, or other diseases, including malaria, infections, and diabetes.'

“我們的方法未來也可用于其他一系列復雜的氣味識別任務，包括識別毒品、爆炸物、過期食品或瘧疾、傳染病、糖尿病等疾病。”

The findings have been published in the journal iScience.

這一研究結果被發表在《交叉科學》期刊上。

英文來源：每日郵報

翻譯&編輯：丹妮