Singapore, Dec 12th, 2023: Breathonix Pte Ltd (“Breathonix”), a pioneer in breath analysis technology for early disease detection, today announced the publication of their latest peer-reviewed study in the journal Metabolites—‘Breath Analysis for Lung Cancer Early Detection—A Clinical Study’. The study demonstrates the potential of breath analysis as a non-invasive method for the early detection of lung cancer.
The study enrolled 14 lung cancer patients, 14 non-lung cancer controls with various medical conditionsStrict matching criteria, including age, gender, smoking history, and comorbidities, were adhered to, ensuring reliable comparisons.. The resulting VOC profiles underwent rigorous statistical analysis, including Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures—Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA), Kruskal–Wallis test, and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis.
Significantly, 13 VOCs were found to differ statistically between lung cancer patients and controls. A combination of eight VOCs (hexanal, heptanal, octanal, benzaldehyde, undecane, phenylacetaldehyde, decanal, and benzoic acid) exhibited strong discriminatory power, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.85, a sensitivity of 82%, and a specificity of 76% in the discovery set. Validation in an independent cohort yielded an AUC of 0.78, a sensitivity of 78%, and a specificity of 64%. Further analysis indicated that elevated aldehyde levels in the breath of lung cancer patients might be due to overactivated Alcohol Dehydrogenase (ADH) pathways in cancerous tissues.
Addressing methodological challenges, the study matched physiological and pathological confounders, controlled room air samples, and standardized breath sampling techniques. Despite certain limitations, the findings underscore the potential of breath analysis as a diagnostic tool for lung cancer and its utility in distinguishing tuberculosis from lung cancer. However, additional research and validation are necessary to translate these findings into clinical practice.
3 tuberculosis patients were identified as incidental findings from this study as they were misdiagnosed as lung cancer patients. This indicates the potential of breath analysis as a tool to differentiate tuberculosis and lung cancer.
Breathonix is dedicated to advancing non-invasive, easy-to-use breath tests for a variety of diseases. This latest study aligns with our mission to revolutionize early disease detection and improve patient outcomes through innovative breath analysis technology.
For more details about this study, read https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo13121197