GLOBAL CHALLENGES

E-Nose Sniffs Out Cancer for Quick, Painless Detection

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 08-13-10 | Comments

A team of Israeli scientists has developed a breathalyzer that can diagnose and differentiate between at least four different common types of cancer. The device, which uses nanotechnology, could revolutionize the detection and treatment of cancer.

Here at Smarter Technology, we're excited by new medical diagnostic technologies, like diabetes-detecting breath sensors and more reliable tests for food allergies. A team of researchers from Technion�Israel Institute of Technology has developed a device that can detect four types of cancer in the breath of patients, regardless of age, gender, lifestyle and other confounding factors.

According to the team's paper published this month in The British Journal of Cancer, cancer kills more than 7 million people annually worldwide. The most common cancers in the developed world, which cause half of all cancer deaths, are lung, colorectal, prostate and breast cancers. When cancer is localized and detected early, a patient's prognosis greatly improves. Unfortunately, the symptoms of cancer often go unnoticed and the disease frequently is diagnosed at late�and fatal�stages.

Cancerous cells, like these from lung cancer, release volatile organic compounds, which the e-nose is able to detect.

The new device, nicknamed an "electronic nose," is capable of distinguishing between the breath of a healthy person and a person with cancer. It can even distinguish between lung, breast, colorectal and prostate cancers. The device is especially promising because it is able to detect cancer before tumors become visible in X-rays.

The e-nose is equipped with cross-reactive nanosensors, made from an array gold nanoparticles and gas chromatography. The nanosensor array is able to detect volatile organic compounds, gases emitted from cells due to the genetic and protein changes that cancers cause. "The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are linked to cancer," the scientists write, "is a new frontier in medical diagnostics because it is non-invasive and potentially inexpensive."

In the study, researchers tested the breath of 177 participants, ranging in age from 20 to 75 and including both cancer patients and healthy volunteers. The results revealed that the e-nose is successful in diagnosing the presence of cancer and determining its type.

In their paper, the researchers write, "The reported results could lead to the development of an inexpensive, easy-to-use, portable, non-invasive tool that overcomes many of the deficiencies associated with the currently available diagnostic methods for cancer."

"These results are interesting and show that there is the potential to develop a single breath test to detect these cancers," Dr. Lesley Walker of the Cancer Research UK charity told AFP.

"Strengthening the methods for early diagnosis of cancer as well as improved treatments will have a significant impact on cutting death rates."