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Distinguish oral-source VOCs and control their potential impact on breath biomarkers

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Abstract

By means of glass bottle sampling followed by solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) technique, the change characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breaths, between before gargling and after gargling, were investigated, respectively, in 41 healthy subjects and 50 esophageal cancer patients. Using an untargeted strategy, 143 VOC chromatographic peaks were enrolled in the statistical analysis. Based on the orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), the VOC variations after gargling for each breath test group were obtained according to the combined criteria of variable importance in projection (VIP > 1.5), Wilcoxon signed-rank test (P < 0.05), and fold change (FC > 2.0). When gargled, the levels of indole, phenol, 1-propanol, and p-cresol in the breath of healthy people decreased; meanwhile, for esophageal cancer patients, the declined VOCs in breath were indole, phenol, dimethyl disulfide, and p-cresol. Particularly, these substances were previously reported as breath biomarkers in some diseases such as esophageal, gastric, thyroid, breast, oral, and lung cancers, as well as certain non-cancer disorders. The present work indicates that expiratory VOCs involve the prominent oral cavity source, and in the breath biomarkers study, the potential impact that originates from oral volatiles should be considered. In view of the present results, it is also proposed that gargle pretreatment could eliminate possible interference from the oral cavity VOCs that might benefit breath biomarker investigation.

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Gargle pretreatment helps to distinguish oral-source VOCs and control their potential impact on breath biomarkers

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21876176, 21777163, 21477132, 81401756, 21705152, 22076190); the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2019432); the President Foundation of Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences (YZJJZX202009); the Joint Fund between the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University and the Center of Medical Physics and Technology of Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Sciences (LHJJ2020006); the Key Program of 13th Five Year Plan, CASHIPS (KP-2017-25); and the Anhui Provincial Key R&D Program (202104d07020003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Medical Physics and Technology, Institute of Health and Medical Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, Anhui, China

    Dianlong Ge, Jijuan Zhou, Yajing Chu, Yan Lu, Xue Zou, Lei Xia, Yawei Liu, Chaoqun Huang, Chengyin Shen & Yannan Chu

  2. University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China

    Dianlong Ge, Jijuan Zhou & Yajing Chu

  3. Hefei Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, Anhui, China

    Yan Lu, Chengyin Shen, Liwei Zhang & Huanzhong Wang

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  1. Dianlong Ge
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  2. Jijuan Zhou
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  4. Yan Lu
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  12. Yannan Chu
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Correspondence to Yan Lu or Yannan Chu.

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Ethics approval

This breath test project passed the check by the Ethical Committee of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Science (approval number: Y-2019-19). All the gargle and breath tests were conducted after informed consent by the cancer patients and their accompanying family members as healthy subjects.

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Ge, D., Zhou, J., Chu, Y. et al. Distinguish oral-source VOCs and control their potential impact on breath biomarkers. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 2275–2284 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03866-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03866-8

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