Lungs for Living Research Centre, UCL Respiratory, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Equal contribution.
J Breath Res. 2019 Apr 24;13(3):034002. doi: 10.1088/1752-7163/ab0bee.
Lung cancer remains the most common cause of cancer related death in both the UK and USA. Development of diagnostic approaches that have the ability to detect lung cancer early are a research priority with potential to improve survival. Analysis of exhaled breath metabolites, or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is an area of considerable interest as it could fulfil such requirements. Numerous studies have shown that VOC profiles are different in the breath of patients with lung cancer compared to healthy individuals or those with non-malignant lung diseases. This review provides a scientific and clinical assessment of the potential value of a breath test in lung cancer. It discusses the current understanding of metabolic pathways that contribute to exhaled VOC production in lung cancer and reviews the research conducted to date. Finally, we highlight important areas for future research and discuss how a breath test could be incorporated into various clinical pathways.
肺癌仍然是英国和美国癌症相关死亡的最常见原因。开发能够早期检测肺癌的诊断方法是一项研究重点，具有提高生存率的潜力。分析呼气代谢物或挥发性有机化合物（VOC）是一个非常有意义的领域，因为它可能满足这些要求。许多研究表明，与健康个体或非恶性肺部疾病患者相比，肺癌患者的呼吸 VOC 谱不同。本综述对呼气试验在肺癌中的潜在价值进行了科学和临床评估。它讨论了目前对导致肺癌呼气 VOC 产生的代谢途径的理解，并回顾了迄今为止进行的研究。最后，我们强调了未来研究的重要领域，并讨论了呼气试验如何融入各种临床途径。
