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Background: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common non-skin cancers in women and the fifth most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Both the prognosis and survival rate of BC patient improve considerably if the disease is discovered at an early stage. Methods: In the present study, we analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the headspace over urine, blood and tissue samples to identify VOCs characteristic for diagnosing BC. The study comprised 150 women with non-metastatic BC Stage II and an equal number of age-matched Healthy Controls (HC). Collected urine, blood and BC tissue samples were analyzed using the Electronic Nose (E-Nose) and Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) techniques. Results: BC was directly related to E-Nose responses for urine, blood and tissue samples. Linear Discriminant Analysis showed separate clusters for urine, blood and tissue sample for BC patients and HC participants, where the first two principal components explained more than 98.84% of the variance in signals with no false-positive (HC participants) or false-negative (BC patients) results. Conclusions: SIFT-MS showed the expression of 10 aldehydes in tissue specimens and blood samples for BC and HC participants, of which pentanal, hexanal and decanal levels were mutually lower or higher, which means that their presence in the headspace of VOCs is specific for both blood samples and tissue specimens. This provides rationale for developing diagnostic tests for BC based on altered trace VOCs concentrations using the relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use, portable, and non-invasive E-Nose technology.

The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of copper (I)-nicotinate co mplex (CNC) on experimentally 4-Dimethylaminoazobenzene (DAB)-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in male rats. In addit ion to the histopathological examination we measured hepatic glutathione content, malondialdehyde, nitric o xide levels, lamin B1 m-RNA, caspase-3 activity and serum interleukin-12 level after 2, 4, 6, 8 months from co mmencement of the experiment. Results: histopathological examination showed HCC development after 4 months of DAB administration. The hepatic glutathione content, lamin B1 m-RNA and nitric o xide levels were significantly elevated, while malondialdehyde, interlukin-12 levels and caspase-3 activity were significantly decreased with the progression and development of the HCC. On the other hand, admin istration of CNC one month before DAB delayed the development of neoplastic growth to the 8 th month. Interestingly, when CNC was admin istered one month after DAB, it successfully prevented HCC development throughout the whole experiment as confirmed by histopathological data and explained by biochemical markers, as glutathione, lamin B-1 and nitric o xide were significantly declined but malondialdehyde, interlukin-12 and caspase-3 activ ity were significantly elevated compared to that in corresponding control group. Conclusion: CNC was able to delay or prevent HCC develop ment in rats fed with the potent liver carcinogen DAB. Our data shows that CNC exerts its anti-tumour effects through modulating o xidative stress status as well as the machinery of apoptosis and angiogenesis. Therefore, CNC may be used as a potential protective anticancer agent.