Some illnesses, such as lung and stomach cancer, or liver diseases have symptoms that are often confused with routine disorders. Therefore, in most cases, the disease is only detected at an advanced stage. New methods for early detection are being investigated as an urgent need.

Tecnalia (San Sebastian, Spain) is developing biosensors capable of detecting the presence of tumor markers of lung cancer in exhaled breath. This is possible because of the changes produced within the organism of an ill person, which is reflected in the exhaled breath of the patient, enabling determination of the presence of this type of marker during the initial stages of the disease.

Human breath, whether from a healthy or ill person, comprises hundreds of organic compounds: acetone, methanol, and butanol among others. There is no known component in exhaled breath that can act as a marker for the diagnosis of lung cancer.

A range of lung cancer biomarkers and its combination were selected. The compounds of interest are generally to be found at 1-20 parts per billion (ppb) in healthy human breath but can increase 10 to 100-fold in the breath of sick patients.

Breath samples were collected by the Donostia Hospital (IDOH; Spain) staff using a breath-collection device. A detailed analysis of the most representative compounds present in the breath samples was carried out and the family or families of compounds acting as markers for the presence of lung cancer were selected.

Organic compounds were analyzed using gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry analysis (GC/MS). Then, the GC/MS results of breath tests were analyzed by statistical and structural algorithms to discriminate and identify "healthy'' and "cancerous" patterns that really provide information for the design of the sensor.

Meanwhile novel materials for detecting the selected organic compounds were developed by Tecnalia in order to increase the sensitivity of the devices. Participating together with Tecnalia in this project were the Instituto de Tecnologías Químicas Emergentes de La Rioja (Inter-Química; Barcelona, Spain) designing the sensor device, and the University of Perpignan (France) testing the novel materials.

Patients with lung cancer, treated in the Section of Medical Oncology of the Institute of Oncohematology of the Donostia Hospital collaborated in this phase of the project.

Related Links:
Tecnalia
Donostia Hospital
University of Perpignan