Abstract
Introduction: Non invasive biomarkers from exhaled breath became high interest. The ion mobility spectrometry has better sensitivity and differentiation of volatile compounds then gas-chromatography. The high sensitivity of the method brings a couple of problems due to VOC's from ambient air and environment.
Methods: The aim of the study was to demonstrate standardized sampling, reproducibility and the discrimination of groups of volunteers by exhaled markers. The calculation of spectra and statistical discrimination was performed using a statistic program based on a Support-Vector Machine.
For the investigation were included 57 volunteers, whose were recruited from two completely different environmental-occupational ambient air conditions.
Results: There were collected repetitive samples on one day and within one week for each. Similar tests were performed on ambient air.
It was possible to demonstrate significant differences in spectra of volunteers. It was possible to differentiate clusters from human biomarkers from the clusters which represent VOC's from ambient air. Subgroups, e.g. sex, BMI, smoking, were possible to discriminate without disturbance from ambient conditions.
Discussion: The DMS is suitable for the detection of VOCs in exhaled breath even in different environmental conditions. The fingerprints (clusters) in each measurement are characteristic for the individuals, groups and highly reproducible. Specific VOC's from ambient are can be mostly excluded from patients markers. The ion mobility spectrometry may be a sufficient method for non-invasive detection of disease markers in breath.
Supported by a Grant of the Federal Ministry for Economy and Technology: EURONORM. Germany
- © 2011 ERS
