Diagnosing lung cancer in exhaled breath using gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Conventional diagnostic methods for lung cancer are unsuitable for widespread screening because they are expensive and occasionally miss tumours. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry studies have shown that several volatile organic compounds, which normally appear at levels of 1-20 ppb in healthy human breath, are elevated to levels between 10 and 100 ppb in lung cancer patients. Here we show that an array of sensors based on gold nanoparticles can rapidly distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from the breath of healthy individuals in an atmosphere of high humidity. In combination with solid-phase microextraction, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to identify 42 volatile organic compounds that represent lung cancer biomarkers. Four of these were used to train and optimize the sensors, demonstrating good agreement between patient and simulated breath samples. Our results show that sensors based on gold nanoparticles could form the basis of an inexpensive and non-invasive diagnostic tool for lung cancer.

Unraveling the Evolution and Nature of the Plasmons in (Au Core)–(Ag Shell) Nanorods

“…In addition, Au and Ag nanostructures are relatively stable in ambient environments. They have, therefore, been intensively studied from the perspectives of both fundamental sciences [1][2][3] and potential applications in optics, [4][5][6] sensing, [7][8][9][10] imaging, [ 11 , 12 ] information processing, [ 13 ] photothermal therapeutics, [ 11 , 12 ] solar energy harvesting, [ 14 , 15 ] and photocatalysis. [ 16 , 17 ] Gold nanocrystals, especially Au nanorods, have been widely used as detection agents for analytical and biochemical applications as well as photothermal therapy, [ 11 , 12 ] owing to their chemical stability, synthetically tunable plasmon resonance bands within the visible and near-infrared spectral regions, and facile surface functionalization using thiol-containing molecules.…”

Kinetically Controlled Growth of Gold Nanoplates and Nanorods via a One-Step Seed-Mediated Method

“…Among the various metallic nanomaterials, gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are widely applied in catalysis, 7 electronics, 8 and diagnostics. 9 Researchers have investigated variously shaped GNPs, especially anisotropic plate-shaped 10 and rod-shaped 11,12 GNPs. However, the mechanism of growth of these anisotropic GNPs is still not yet fully understood, so it remains challenging to synthesize complex GNPs of similar sizes that are homogenous in shape.…”

Smell, Lung Cancer, Electronic Nose and Trained Dogs

“…The possibility to discriminate LC patients with e-nose devices has been recently demonstrated by several studies. [21][22][23] For instance, trained e-nose devices were able to identify the breath samples of patients with lung cancer and distinguish them from healthy controls, 24 as well as from patients having the three next most widespread primary cancers (colon, breast and prostate cancer). 21,24 In another study, the classification accuracy between LC patients and patients with head-and-neck cancer (highly correlated with tobacco smoking) achieved 100%, while the discrimination between LC patients and healthy controls was 96%.…”

“…[21][22][23] For instance, trained e-nose devices were able to identify the breath samples of patients with lung cancer and distinguish them from healthy controls, 24 as well as from patients having the three next most widespread primary cancers (colon, breast and prostate cancer). 21,24 In another study, the classification accuracy between LC patients and patients with head-and-neck cancer (highly correlated with tobacco smoking) achieved 100%, while the discrimination between LC patients and healthy controls was 96%. 25 On the other hand, a research study performed on a population of 30 volunteers (10 LC patients, 10 COPD and 10 healthy controls), provided 85% accuracy for the discrimination between LC and COPD patients, and 80-90% accuracy between LC patients and healthy controls.…”

“…The possibility to discriminate LC patients with e-nose devices has been recently demonstrated by several studies. [21][22][23] For instance, trained e-nose devices were able to identify the breath samples of patients with lung cancer and distinguish them from healthy controls, 24 as well as from patients having the three next most widespread primary cancers (colon, breast and prostate cancer). …”