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Background: In recent decades it has been noted that trained dogs can detect specific odor molecules emitted by cancer cells. We have shown that the same odor can also be detected in the patient's blood with high sensitivity and specificity by trained dogs. In the present study, we examined how the ability of dogs to detect this smell was affected by treatment to reduce tumor burden, including surgery and five courses of chemotherapy.Methods: In Series I, one drop of plasma from each of 42 ovarian cancer patients (taken between the fifth and sixth courses of chemotherapy) and 210 samples from healthy controls were examined by two trained dogs. All 42 patients in Series I had clinical complete responses, all except two had normal CA-125 values and all were declared healthy after primary treatment. In Series II, the dogs examined blood taken from a new subset of 10 patients at 3 and 6 months after the last (sixth) course of chemotherapy.Results: In Series I, the dogs showed high sensitivity (97%) and specificity (99%), for detecting viable cancer cells or molecular cancer markers in the patients' plasma. Indeed, 29 of 42 patients died within 5 years. In Series II, the dogs indicated positive samples from three of the 10 patients at both the 3- and 6-month follow-up. All three patients had recurrences, and two died 3-4 years after the end of treatment. This was one of the most important findings of this study. Seven patients were still alive in January 2013.Conclusions: Although our study was based on a limited number of selected patients, it clearly suggests that canine detection gave us a very good assessment of the prognosis of the study patients. Being able to detect a marker based on the specific cancer odor in the blood would enhance primary diagnosis and enable earlier relapse diagnosis, consequently increasing survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ovarian carcinoma represents about 4% of all cancers diagnosed in women worldwide. Mortality rate is high, over 50%, mainly due to late diagnosis. Currently there are no acceptable screening techniques available, although ovarian cancer belongs to the group of malignancies for which mortality could be dramatically reduced by early diagnosis. In a recently published study, we clearly demonstrated that human ovarian carcinoma tissues can be characterized by a specific odour, detectable by a trained dog. Another recent study confirmed these results using an electronic nose. Methods: In the present work, we examined whether the cancer-specific odour can also be found in the blood. Two specially trained dogs were used. Both ovarian cancer tissues and blood from patients with ovarian carcinoma were tested. Results: The tissue tests showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 95%, while the blood tests showed sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 98%. Conclusions: The present study strongly suggests that the characteristic odour emitted by ovarian cancer samples is also present in blood (plasma) taken from patients with the disease. This finding opens possibilities for future screening of healthy populations for early diagnosis of ovarian carcinoma. A future challenge is to develop a sensitive electronic nose for screening of ovarian carcinoma by testing the blood/plasma to detect the disease at a stage early enough for treatment to be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To elucidate the therapeutic efficacy of α-radioimmunotherapy of ovarian cancer in mice. This study: (i) estimated the minimum required activity (MRA), giving a reasonable high therapeutic efficacy; and (ii) calculated the specific energy to tumor cell nuclei and the metastatic cure probability (MCP) using various assumptions regarding monoclonal-antibody (mAb) distribution in measured tumors. The study was performed using the α-particle emitter Astatine-211 (211At) labeled to the mAb MX35 F(ab′)2. Methods and Materials: Animals were inoculated intraperitoneally with ∼1 × 107 cells of the cell line NIH:OVCAR-3. Four weeks later animals were treated with 25, 50, 100, or 200 kBq 211At-MX35 F(ab′)2 (n = 74). Another group of animals was treated with a nonspecific mAb: 100 kBq 211At-Rituximab F(ab′)2 (n = 18). Eight weeks after treatment the animals were sacrificed and presence of macro- and microscopic tumors and ascites was determined. An MCP model was developed and compared with the experimentally determined tumor-free fraction (TFF). Results: When treatment was given 4 weeks after cell inoculation, the TFFs were 25%, 22%, 50%, and 61% after treatment with 25, 50, 100, or 200 kBq 211At-MX35 F(ab′)2, respectively, the specific energy to irradiated cell nuclei varying between ∼2 and ∼400 Gy. Conclusion: As a significant increase in the therapeutic efficacy was observed between the activity levels of 50 and 100 kBq (TFF increase from 22% to 50%), the conclusion was that the MRA is ∼100 kBq 211At-MX35 F(ab′)2. MCP was most consistent with the TFF when assuming a diffusion depth of 30 μm of the mAbs in the tumors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]