Hybrid volatilomics in cancer diagnosis by HS-GC-FID fingerprinting

Author(s)

da Costa, Bruno Ruiz Brandao ; da Silva, Ricardo Roberto ; Bigao, Vitor Luiz Caleffo Piva ; Peria, Fernanda Maris ; De Martinis, Bruno Spinosa

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF BREATH RESEARCH; v. 17, n. 2, p. 15-pg., 2023-04-01.

Abstract

Assessing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as cancer signatures is one of the most promising techniques toward developing non-invasive, simple, and affordable diagnosis. Here, we have evaluated the feasibility of employing static headspace extraction (HS) followed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) as a screening tool to discriminate between cancer patients (head and neck-HNC, n = 15; and gastrointestinal cancer-GIC, n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 37) on the basis of a non-target (fingerprinting) analysis of oral fluid and urine. We evaluated the discrimination considering a single bodily fluid and adopting the hybrid approach, in which the oral fluid and urinary VOCs profiles were combined through data fusion. We used supervised orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis for classification, and we assessed the prediction power of the models by analyzing the values of goodness of prediction (Q(2)Y), area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity. The individual models HNC urine, HNC oral fluid, and GIC oral fluid successfully discriminated between healthy controls and positive samples (Q(2)Y = 0.560, 0.525, and 0.559; AUC = 0.814, 0.850, and 0.926; sensitivity = 84.8, 70.2, and 78.6%; and specificity = 82.3; 81.5; 87.5%, respectively), whereas GIC urine was not adequate (Q(2)Y = 0.292, AUC = 0.694, sensitivity = 66.1%, and specificity = 77.0%). Compared to the respective individual models, Q(2)Y for the hybrid models increased (0.623 for hybrid HNC and 0.562 for hybrid GIC). However, sensitivity was higher for HNC urine and GIC oral fluid than for hybrid HNC (75.6%) and hybrid GIC (69.8%), respectively. These results suggested that HS-GC-FID fingerprinting is suitable and holds great potential for cancer screening. Additionally, the hybrid approach tends to increase the predictive power if the individual models present suitable quality parameter values. Otherwise, it is more advantageous to use a single body fluid for analysis. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/05026-4 - Development of a computational platform extensible and modular for analysis of metabolomics and metagenomics experiments: Innovating with the discovery of new enzymatic activities and derived natural products of interest
• Grantee: Ricardo Roberto da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - BIOTA - Young Researchers
• FAPESP's process: 20/02207-5 - Inventorying secondary metabolism applying metabolomic strategies: contribution to the Brazilian biodiversity valuation
• Grantee: Norberto Peporine Lopes
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 17/18922-2 - Development of a computing platform extensible and modular for metabolomics and metagenomics analysis: innovation with the discovery of new enzymatic activities and natural products of pharmaceutical interest derived
• Grantee: Ricardo Roberto da Silva
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Young Investigators Grants