Caenorhabditis elegans as a Diagnostic Aid for Pancreatic Cancer

OBJECTIVES: Early detection of pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult. A novel cancer diagnostic method using the ability of nematodes to detect odor of urine samples has been developed (N-NOSE). This method has a high sensitivity and specificity for various cancers; however, it has not yet been verified in pancreatic cancer. We examined the usefulness of this method to aid early diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in a cancer center. METHODS: We collected urine samples and clinical data from patients hospitalized in our division, between July 2017 and February 2019. We excluded patients with a known current or past history of other cancers. We investigated the relationship between the results of N-NOSE and the presence of pancreatic cancer. RESULTS: There were 95 noncancer cases and 104 pancreatic cancer cases. The sensitivity and specificity of N-NOSE for pancreatic cancer were 84.6% (88/104) and 60% (57/95), respectively. N-NOSE was able to detect stages 0 to I pancreatic cancer and had a higher correlation with early-stage pancreatic cancer than advanced stage. CONCLUSIONS: N-NOSE has sufficient sensitivity and specificity for use in clinical practice, and it holds great potential as a diagnostic aid for pancreatic cancer, especially for early-stage pancreatic cancer.