Gruber M, Tisch U, Jeries R, Amal H, Hakim M, Ronen O, Marshak T, Zimmerman D, Israel O, Amiga E, Doweck I, Haick H
The Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Carmel Medical Center, Haifa 34362, Israel.
The Department of Chemical Engineering and Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel.
Br J Cancer. 2014 Aug 12;111(4):790-8. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2014.361. Epub 2014 Jul 1.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) are wide-spread cancers that often lead to disfigurement and loss of important functions such as speech and ingestion. To date, HNSCC has no adequate method for early detection and screening.
Exhaled breath samples were collected from 87 volunteers; 62 well-defined breath samples from 22 HNSCC patients (larynx and pharynx), 21 patients with benign tumours (larynx and pharynx) and 19 healthy controls were analysed in a dual approach: (i) chemical analysis using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and (ii) breath-print analysis using an array of nanomaterial-based sensors, combined with a statistical algorithm.
Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry identified ethanol, 2-propenenitrile and undecane as potential markers for HNSCC and/or benign tumours of the head and neck. The sensor-array-based breath-prints could clearly distinguish HNSCC both from benign tumours and from healthy states. Within the HNSCC group, patients could be classified according to tumour site and stage.
We have demonstrated the feasibility of a breath test for a specific, clinically interesting application: distinguishing HNSCC from tumour-free or benign tumour states, as well as for staging and locating HNSCC. The sensor array used here could form the basis for the development of an urgently needed non-invasive, cost-effective, fast and reliable point-of-care diagnostic/screening tool for HNSCC.
头颈部鳞状细胞癌（HNSCC）是广泛存在的癌症，常导致容貌毁损以及言语和吞咽等重要功能丧失。迄今为止，HNSCC尚无足够的早期检测和筛查方法。
收集了87名志愿者的呼气样本；采用双重方法对来自22例HNSCC患者（喉和咽）、21例良性肿瘤患者（喉和咽）以及19名健康对照者的62份明确的呼气样本进行了分析：（i）使用气相色谱/质谱联用仪（GC-MS）进行化学分析，（ii）使用基于纳米材料的传感器阵列结合统计算法进行呼吸指纹分析。
气相色谱/质谱联用仪鉴定出乙醇、2-丙烯腈和十一烷为HNSCC和/或头颈部良性肿瘤的潜在标志物。基于传感器阵列的呼吸指纹能够清晰地区分HNSCC与良性肿瘤以及健康状态。在HNSCC组内，患者可根据肿瘤部位和分期进行分类。
我们已经证明了呼气测试在特定临床应用中的可行性：区分HNSCC与无肿瘤或良性肿瘤状态，以及对HNSCC进行分期和定位。此处使用的传感器阵列可为开发急需的用于HNSCC的非侵入性、经济高效、快速且可靠的即时诊断/筛查工具奠定基础。
