Volatile organic metabolites identify patients with gastric carcinoma, gastric ulcer, or gastritis and control patients

Abstract

BackgroundGastric cancer ranks 4th among the most common cancers worldwide, and the mortality caused by gastric cancer is 2nd only to lung cancer. Gastric cancer shows a lack of specific symptoms in its early stages. In addition, its clinical symptoms often do not match the corresponding stage. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of gastric cancer because of its high accuracy. However, this operation is invasive, patient compliance is poor, and high demands for medical staff and equipment are typical of this procedure. Recent studies have demonstrated a connection between specific breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and various forms of cancers.MethodsWe collected expired air from patients with gastric cancer, chronic atrophic gastritis or gastric ulcers as well as from healthy individuals. Solid-phase microextraction, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and principal component analysis statistics were applied to identify potential biomarkers of gastric cancer among VOCs.ResultsFourteen differential metabolites were annotated using the NIST 11 database, with a similarity threshold of 70%. Currently, the metabolic origin of VOCs remains unclear; however, several pathways might explain the decreasing or increasing trends that were observed.ConclusionsThe results of this study demonstrate the existence of specific VOC profiles associated with patients with carcinoma. In addition, these metabolites may contribute to the diagnosis and screening of patients with carcinoma.

Exhaled breath analysis using on‐line preconcentration mass spectrometry for gastric cancer diagnosis

“…Similarly, Chen et al have identified 14 VOCs that can distinguish early gastric cancer and advanced gastric cancer from healthy persons by SPME GC-MS; based on the screened breath biomarkers, surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors were developed, which showed a sensitivity of >83% and a specificity of >92% in identifying the early and advanced stages of the patients. 5 According to the previous studies, [4][5][6][7] it is convincing that breath volatile biomarkers are capable of distinguishing patients with gastric cancer at different stages and precancerous lesions from healthy subjects. However, the VOC biomarkers reported in different studies are not identical even though the same analytical technology GC-MS was used.…”

Comments on “Pilot Study: Detection of Gastric Cancer From Exhaled Air Analyzed With an Electronic Nose in Chinese Patients”

“…VOCs' alteration in patients with gastric carcinoma has been evaluated by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; however, this approach is difficult to apply in clinical practice. 5 Indeed, the work of Schuermans and colleagues 1 supports the promising results already published regarding e-nose's ability to diagnose other pathological conditions and underlines the great interest that this technology is gathering in the scientific community.…”

“…VOCs’ alteration in patients with gastric carcinoma has been evaluated by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; however, this approach is difficult to apply in clinical practice. 5…”

A non-invasive approach to explore the discriminatory potential of the urinary volatilome of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast

“…[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] As a subset of metabolomics, many researchers have explored the potential of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a variety of biological samples related to numerous diseases. [28][29][30][31][32][33][34] It could be highly desirable to the patients and health care systems if the samples needed for cancer screening tends to be obtained non-invasively. Furthermore, VOCs could be a potential indicator of the disease state as they are easily available in non-invasive samples like urine, saliva, etc.…”