Diagnostic Application of Volatile Organic Compounds as Potential Biomarkers for Detecting Digestive Neoplasia: A Systematic Review.

Augustin Catalin Dima,Daniel Vasile Balaban,Alina Dima

doi:10.3390/diagnostics11122317

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are part of the exhaled breath that were proposed as non-invasive breath biomarkers via different human discharge products like saliva, breath, urine, blood, or tissues. Particularly, due to the non-invasive approach, VOCs were considered as potential biomarkers for non-invasive early cancer detection. We herein aimed to review the data over VOCs utility in digestive neoplasia as early diagnosis or monitoring biomarkers. A systematic literature search was done using MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science Core Collection. We identified sixteen articles that were included in the final analysis. Based on the current knowledge, we cannot identify a single VOC as a specific non-invasive biomarker for digestive neoplasia. Several combinations of up to twelve VOCs seem promising for accurately detecting some neoplasia types. A combination of different VOCs breath expression are promising tools for digestive neoplasia screening.

Highlights

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are part of the exhaled breath [1] present in a state of gas at ambient temperature [2]
Reports not referring to VOCs or digestive neoplasia, reviews or case reports, and articles not in the English language were excluded after the title and abstract screen
A total number of 29 articles were obtained (Supplementary File 2), for which the entire manuscript was screened. 13 articles were excluded out of full texts assessed for eligibility, for the following reasons: different instruments (VOCs searched in samples other than breath), different study design, or different study populations

Summary

Introduction

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are part of the exhaled breath [1] present in a state of gas at ambient temperature [2]. VOCs might be used as non-invasive biomarkers via different human discharge products like saliva, breath, urine, blood, or tissues [3]. The breath VOCs are components with both exogeneous or endogenous origin responsible for breath characteristics [1]. The VOCs’ cycle includes bloodstream transport after production to the lungs, from where the VOCs are exchanged and exhaled through the breath air [3]. The changes on the breath VOCs composition might confer an unpleasant smell to exhaled breath [1]. The breath particularities have been observed and described since early medicine and are still part of classic clinical semiology, e.g., fetor hepaticus, fetor uremic [1]. The first results of gas–liquid partition chromatography were presented only about fifty years ago [4]

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Conclusion