Scientists say they have fashioned a new test that can detect lung cancer simply on the basis of a tumor-causing change in the odor of bodily fluids.

The finding is so far based solely on work with mice, but follow-up studies are underway to see if this novel approach could aid in the early diagnosis of lung cancer in humans.

“But this work already proves, at least in principle, that tumors — in this case lung cancer tumors in mice — result in a change in odors that ought to be useful for diagnostic purposes,” observed senior study author Gary K. Beauchamp, a biologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.