THE FUTURE OF DISEASE

DIAG-NOSE-IS IS FURRY!

It’s 9 am, the car park is filling up and the most enthusiastic pupils you’ve ever seen are arriving for lessons. Their uniform is a smart red jacket and red and black collar, and their bags are full of biscuits and toys. They are dropped off and kissed goodbye but most of them barely look back as they’re so excited to start their day.

At the front of the queue to get into the classroom is Florin, a beautiful, petite, Fox Red Labrador. She is the teacher’s pet – her knowledge and understanding of her subject is world-leading and her teachers are actually learning from her a lot of the time as well as the other way round.

Florin is a Bio Detection Dog at the charity, Medical Detection Dogs. She is trained to detect the odour of disease using her incredible sense of smell. Her nose has 300 million scent receptors compared to us humans with just 5 million. She can detect smells at parts per trillion – imagine a spoonful of sugar in the equivalent body of water held by two Olympic sized swimming pools. Her classroom is a state-of-the-art training Centre, and her friends are all shapes and sizes. Her colleagues include a Hovawart, a Dachshund, a German Shorthaired Pointer, and a Golden Retriever. The training room where she works has boxes of treats on the shelves and tennis balls hidden from view – although Florin and her colleagues somehow always know when they’re there…

Outside the training room are offices with all sorts of big comfy beds. Despite this, Florin’s colleagues can often be seen poured into the smallest one they can find or even better, squished in next to their best friend.

Florin’s ‘subject’ is prostate cancer detection, and she was one of a team of dogs which scientifically validated that their noses can detect the most aggressive forms of the disease with high specificity and sensitivity

Not only that, but they can also find it in urine from patients who have other diseases of the prostate.

Florin’s work could pave the way for an urgently needed, more accurate and non-invasive method of early prostate cancer diagnosis which could support the PSA blood test. This is the test most widely used at the moment and the results are so encouraging because one of the challenges of this test is that

Dr Claire Guest OBE, Co-Founder, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer

Medical Detection Dogs uses the amazing power of the dog’s nose to detect human diseases. Our research is based on the dog’s ability to detect minute odour traces created by diseases.

Claire used to train cancer detection dogs in her dining room, that’s where Daisy started her training as a pup. Medical Alert Assistance Dog Programme Manager, Simone used to get samples from the bottom drawer of the freezer for preparation and come through the kitchen with a tray. Back then neither Simone or Claire knew where it might lead, but not many people came to dinner.

Take a look at their website to see how you can help to support this amazing charity - www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk other conditions can cause an elevated PSA but that does not necessarily mean you have cancer.

9-year-old Florin has also moved the charity one paw closer to translating, in time, the ability of a dogs’ nose to an electronic device.

The results of the study that Florin worked on were published in the highly respected journal, PLOS ONE. The study by Medical Detection Dogs, the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Johns Hopkins University was the first-time researchers combined three approaches – dogs’ noses, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted chemical analysis of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urine samples, and microbial analysis of urine samples of men undergoing biopsy for suspected prostate cancer.

Results showed the dogs’ noses were 71% sensitive – the rate at which the dogs correctly identified positive samples and 73% specific – the rate at which the dogs correctly ignored negative samples including those with other diseases – when detecting Gleason 9 prostate cancer, the most aggressive kind. The dogs also correctly identified when 73% of patient samples did not have the disease. This compares favourably to the most commonly used prostate cancer test, the PSA blood test, and demonstrates how a new screening method based on the dog’s nose could support the PSA test and improve early diagnosis, leading to better health outcomes and saving lives.

This was the first truly controlled study – both human researchers and dogs were double-blinded on which samples were from cancer patients versus otherwise healthy patients, meaning neither dogs nor trainers knew where the positive samples were so there could be no question of bias.

The findings demonstrate that dogs can be trained to detect the most aggressive and lethal form of prostate cancer from their VOCs. Identification of the exact molecules in the odour could lead to the development of an artificial dog nose that detects prostate cancer in urine the same way biosensing mac-

Sponsor hines are being used to sniff out drugs and explosives, which also have unique molecular odorant signatures.

By sponsoring a Medical Detection Dogs puppy, you’ll be making a huge difference by helping to support their care and training. Sponsor a gorgeous puppy from just £5 a month and watch them grow from a bundle of fur to a fully qualified Medical Detection Dog.

It can take up to 2 years to train a puppy and costs £29,000 to care for, train, place and support a dog and his or her partner to become an accredited assistance dog team.

During their training they live with volunteer socialisers and their families. For as little as £5 a month you can help us create lots more life-saving Medical Alert Assistance Dog partnerships. After completing their advanced training, your puppy will give freedom and independence to one of our clients – what an amazing gift.

Prostate cancer is just one of the diseases that Bio Detection dogs are learning the odour of at Florin’s workplace.

Teams of dogs are also detecting Neurological disease such as Parkinson’s, bacterial infections such as Pseudomonas and E. coli, other cancers such as bowel cancer and canine cancer and most recently, COVID-19, among others.

Parkinson’s disease affects one in every 500 people in the UK. People with this complex progressive neurological condition can be left struggling to move, speak, swallow and even breathe. There is currently no definitive test for Parkinson’s. Diagnosis is usually made in response to the individual exhibiting motor symptoms, such as tremor and rigidity and non-motor symptoms such as feeling tired and having sleep problems. Sadly, there is no cure and Parkinson’s symptoms typically only start when more than half of the relevant nerve cells in the brain have already been lost, which the latest research suggests is up to 20 years after the disease first occurs.

Being able to diagnose the condition earlier would lead to treatments starting sooner and greatly increase the chances of developing those which slow progression of the disease, or even of finding a cure.

Medical Detection Dogs, in collaboration with Manchester University and Edinburgh University, has been working on a ground-breaking proof of principle study which has determined that dogs can detect Parkinson’s disease, possibly many years before symptoms start to show.

Florin’s colleagues on this study include a big, handsome, Golden Retriever, called Bumper. Bumper is very economical with his movement outside of the training room, but like so many of the four-legged team, cannot wait to get started when it’s their turn. Bumper and his team tested several hundred samples and were trained to respond with simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ indications. These results were very positive and will enable the collaborators in the next stage of this research to home in on the specific chemical linked to Parkinson’s.

Some other colleagues were trained by the charity to identify bacteria associated with serious lung infections. A major cause of lung damage in people with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is infection with bacterial pathogens. The most prevalent of these is Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa), which chronically infects around 60 per cent of the 10,000 patients in UK.

The major findings, published in the European Respiratory Journal, showed that Medical Detection Dogs can differentiate between Pa and other bacterial pathogens that affect people with CF by sniffing bacteria grown in a nutrient liquid.

The study was supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and conducted by Imperial College London and Royal Brompton Hospital, and concluded that compared with existing technologies, dogs may ultimately prove more sensitive or more affordable for screening lower airway infection in people with CF. People with CF could ultimately monitor their lung infections from home by sending in samples for the dogs to check which would be faster, more accurate and non-invasive.

When the recent pandemic struck, many of Florin’s furry friends were trained to detect the odour of COVID-19. In the first phase of this study, which was carried out in the charity’s Bio Detection training area, dogs were trained to identify the odour of the virus from a small piece of sock worn by an individual suffering from the virus. Six dogs were taken to trial and proved that COVID-19 infection has a distinct smell, which specially trained dogs can rapidly, non-invasively detect with up to 94.3% sensitivity and up to 92% specificity. The dogs were able to detect odour from individuals who were asymptomatic, as well as those with two different strains, and with both high and low viral loads.

Team members for this study included a Cocker Spaniel, a Golden Retriever and fellow Labradors like Florin. They provided researchers with valuable knowledge and techniques which could be applied in response to any future disease outbreaks.

All Medical Detection Dogs live in family homes with volunteer Fosterers and Socialisers. During the working day, they are in offices with the charity’s staff and volunteer dog walkers arrive to take them all out for free runs at lunchtime.

Florin lives with the charity’s CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, Claire Guest, who co-founded the charity 15 years ago and has proven that dogs can detect the odour of all kinds of diseases, rapidly, accurately and non-invasively. Florin’s housemates include fellow Bio Detection specialists Iggy – a cheeky, Wire-Haired Dachshund who is in the early stages of his life-saving journey, Tala, a laid back, yellow Labrador who was part of the COVID-19 detection team and Asher, a quirky Cocker Spaniel who is now a retiree.

In between sessions in the training room, Florin can usually be found lounging about in Claire’s office, resting her head on whoever Claire is meeting with, or curled up as tightly as possible in her bed – often with a Dachshund draped across her.

But when her trainer, Mark, comes to the door she springs into action, tail wagging, eagerly for her turn to play the ‘game’ - a game which harnesses her natural desire to use her nose and could be a game changer for the future of disease diagnosis.

Joules Tweed Fox Rope Dog Toy

This delightful Joules tug toy will provide your four-legged friend with hours of fox-shaped fun. Created in a combination of fabrics and textures, it features a sturdy rope tail and handle and a hidden squeaker to keep excitement levels high. Choose toys based on pet size and chewing habits.

£10