Nanoscience

Diagnosing cancer today usually involves various imaging techniques, examining tissue samples under a microscope, or testing cells for proteins or genetic material. In search of safer and less invasive ways to tell if someone has cancer, scientists have recently started analyzing breath and defining specific profiles of compounds in breath samples. But translating these exhaled disease fingerprints into a meaningful diagnosis has required a large number of sensors, which makes them impractical for clinical use. Hossam Haick and colleagues sought to address this problem.

The researchers developed a small, breath-diagnostic array based on flexible gold-nanoparticle sensors for use in an “electronic nose.” The system — tested on breath samples from 43 volunteers, 17 of whom had ovarian cancer — showed an accuracy rate of 82 percent. The researchers say developing this method further would require larger-scale clinical testing. They add that the approach could also apply to diagnostics for other diseases.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Horizon 2020 ICT Program.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Nicole Kahn, Ofer Lavie, Moran Paz, Yakir Segev, Hossam Haick.Dynamic Nanoparticle-Based Flexible Sensors: Diagnosis of Ovarian Carcinoma from Exhaled Breath. Nano Letters, 2015; 150911115224008 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b03052

American Chemical Society. (2015, September 30). Sniffing out cancer with improved ‘electronic nose’ sensors. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 10, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150930092513.htm