Overview
- After the dog, Ceto, repeatedly nudged her chest, Chase Johnson found a lump and was diagnosed with triple‑negative breast cancer on February 16, 2021.
- Johnson underwent chemotherapy, radiation, a lumpectomy and lymph node removal, and her treatment was reported as successful with no current signs of disease.
- Ceto had previously shown similar anxious behavior toward Johnson’s husband, Ben Byrn, which preceded his colon cancer diagnosis and made the couple more vigilant.
- Johnson is enrolled in a Cleveland Clinic phase 1 trial of a preventive vaccine for triple‑negative breast cancer, with early data showing immune responses in most participants and good tolerability; a separate small Nature study of personalized mRNA vaccines reported durable complete responses in the majority of patients treated.
- Researchers report trained dogs can detect cancer‑related odors with high sensitivity in controlled studies, though methods remain experimental and are not validated for routine screening.