Exhaled breath profiling using broadband quantum cascade laser-based spectroscopy in healthy children and children with asthma and cystic fibrosis

Abstract

Exhaled breath analysis is a potential non-invasive tool for diagnosing and monitoring airway diseases. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and electrochemical sensor arrays are the main techniques to detect volatile organic compounds (VOC) in exhaled breath. We developed a broadband quantum cascade laser spectroscopy technique for VOC detection and identification. The objective of this study was to assess the repeatability of exhaled breath profiling with broadband quantum cascade laser-based spectroscopy and to explore the clinical applicability by comparing exhaled breath samples from healthy children with those from children with asthma or cystic fibrosis (CF). Healthy children and children with stable asthma or stable CF, aged 6-18 years, were included. Two to four exhaled breath samples were collected in Tedlar bags and analyzed by quantum cascade laser spectroscopy to detect VOCs with an absorption profile in the wavenumber region between 832 and 1262.55 cm(-1). We included 35 healthy children, 39 children with asthma and 15 with CF. Exhaled breath VOC profiles showed poor repeatability (Spearman's rho = 0.36 to 0.46) and agreement of the complete profiles. However, we were able to discriminate healthy children from children with stable asthma or stable CF and identified VOCs that were responsible for this discrimination. Broadband quantum cascade laser-based spectroscopy detected differences in VOC profiles in exhaled breath samples between healthy children and children with asthma or CF. The combination of a relatively easy and fast method and the possibility of molecule identification makes broadband quantum cascade laser-based spectroscopy attractive to investigate the diagnostic and prognostic potential of volatiles in exhaled breath.

Laser spectroscopy for breath analysis: towards clinical implementation

“…Instruments based on selected ion flow-tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) and proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) allow online sampling and real-time analysis while making it potentially possible to analyses dozens of VOCs simultaneously [150]. Few studies have carefully addressed the untargeted analysis of medium-to-high molecular weight species that absorb over a broad wavelength range [151]. As outlined in Sect.…”

Breathomics from exhaled volatile organic compounds in pediatric asthma

“…In addition, the studies are small, no external validation is performed, and different techniques for breath collection and analysis are used. To assess the feasibility of breathomics to discriminate between different respiratory diseases, van Mastrigt et al investigated whether asthmatics ( n = 39) can be discriminated from healthy children ( n = 35) or children with cystic fibrosis ( n = 15). Using laser‐based spectroscopy, different VOC profiles were identified for the different subject groups.…”

“…In addition, the studies are small, no external validation is performed, and different techniques for breath collection and analysis are used. To assess the feasibility of breathomics to discriminate between different respiratory diseases, van Mastrigt et al 32 Additionally, the added predictive value of breath VOCs to the Asthma Predictive Index (API) was assessed. A significant improvement of asthma diagnosis was reported; the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) increased with 28-89%.…”

Omics-based molecular techniques in oral pathology centred cancer: prospect and challenges in Africa

“…Various metabolic processes in the body produce VOCs that are released into the blood and transported to the lung where they are passed to the airway and exhaled. Acquisition and measurement of unique VOCs that may indicate occurrence of chronic inflammation and/or oxidative stress are potential biomarkers for early cancer detection [172]. This may be a plausible non-invasive early-stage cancer screening tool and may be potentially applied to the detection of head and neck cancers.…”