The lung cancer breath signature: a comparative analysis of exhaled breath and air sampled from inside the lungs

Abstract

Results collected in more than 20 years of studies suggest a relationship between the volatile organic compounds exhaled in breath and lung cancer. However, the origin of these compounds is still not completely elucidated. In spite of the simplistic vision that cancerous tissues in lungs directly emit the volatile metabolites into the airways, some papers point out that metabolites are collected by the blood and then exchanged at the air-blood interface in the lung. To shed light on this subject we performed an experiment collecting both the breath and the air inside both the lungs with a modified bronchoscopic probe. The samples were measured with a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and an electronic nose. We found that the diagnostic capability of the electronic nose does not depend on the presence of cancer in the sampled lung, reaching in both cases an above 90% correct classification rate between cancer and non-cancer samples. On the other hand, multivariate analysis of GC-MS achieved a correct classification rate between the two lungs of only 76%. GC-MS analysis of breath and air sampled from the lungs demonstrates a substantial preservation of the VOCs pattern from inside the lung to the exhaled breath.

Porphyrins for olfaction mimic: The Rome Tor Vergata approach

“…In this regard, we recently investigated the source and propagation of VOCs from the lung to the breath making use of a modified bronchoscope for air sampling inside the lungs [46]. The results of this study show that the detection of lung cancer is independent of the lung where the air is sampled; the blood collects the excreted metabolites, which are then exchanged at the air-blood interface in the lungs alveoli (see Fig.…”

An Exploration of the Metal Dependent Selectivity of a Metalloporphyrins Coated Quartz Microbalances Array

“…QMBs have been used for chemical sensors and biosensors for decades [8], and they have been frequently functionalized with porphyrins [9,10]. The capabilities of sensor arrays based on porphyrins have been demonstrated in very different applications, such as lung cancer detection from breath analysis [11,12] the contamination of foods [13], and the air quality control in spacecrafts [14]. …”

Odor-Sensing System to Support Social Participation of People Suffering from Incontinence

“…Main application areas include health, security, and safety scenarios [8] and often focus on the highly selective detection of a few, well-defined gaseous compounds [9,10,11]. However, because of the complexity of situations in the real world, data analysis using electronic noses to identify a situation might prove advantageous as compared to analyzing specific gas concentrations [12]. Also, the mimicking of the human olfactory sense is being worked on, even though it is inherently difficult for an impartial machine to generate the highly individual perception of a smell [13].…”