Volatile organic compounds in exhaled breath samples as potential biomarkers in early diagnosis of lung cancer –(Ege translational pulmonology research group [EgeTPAG])

Abstract

Lung cancer is the major cause of cancer death in the World. Low dose CT screening for early diagnosis has still had some problems due to high rate of false-positive results. There is urgently need to new, in particular non-invasive biomarkers in the early diagnosis of lung cancer. The main objective of this study is to detect role of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as potential biomarkers in early diagnosis of lung cancer. Newly diagnosed lung cancer patients and controls included into this prospective-case control study. Breath samples were collected via lab-made sample collector where the VOC content was enriched on a lab-made polythiphene solid phase microextraction (SPME) fibers. Then, the VOC content was analyzed by inserting into injection port of a gas chromatography coupled with mass detector (GC-MS) allowing thermal desorption. Commercial Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane SPME fibers were also utilized. A total of 67 lung cancer patients along with 69 controls9 breath samples were collected and analyzed. The results were interpreted with chemometric approach by using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). According to the first preliminary results of the study; via breathe sample analyses it is highly possible to distinguish lung cancer patients at early stages of their disease than the healthy controls with significantly different signal level of VOCs compounds in PCA.