OC-011 Exhaled volatile organic compound breath analysis in inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Introduction

Distinguishing between Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) is important for determining management and prognosis. Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) may be used to analyse volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath: these may be altered in disease states, and distinguishing breath VOC profiles can be identified.¹A recent paediatric study used SIFT-MS to distinguish IBD patients from healthy controls (HC).²The aim of this pilot study was to identify, quantify and analyse VOCs present in the breath of adult IBD patients and controls, potentially providing insights into disease pathogenesis and complementing current diagnostic algorithms.

Method

SIFT-MS breath profiling of 56 individuals (20 UC, 18 CD and 18 healthy controls) was undertaken. Multivariate analysis included principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis with orthogonal signal correction (OSC-PLS-DA). Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed for each comparative analysis using statistically significant VOCs.

Results

OSC-PLS-DA modelling was able to distinguish both CD and UC from healthy controls and from one other with good sensitivity and specificity. ROC analysis using combinations of statistically significant VOCs (dimethyl sulphide, hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, butanal and nonanal) gave integrated areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.86 (CD vs HC), 0.74 (UC vs HC) and 0.83 (CD vs UC).

Conclusion

SIFT-MS breath profiling was able to distinguish IBD patients from controls, as well as separate UC from CD, using both multivariate and univariate statistical techniques. The specific VOCs characterising the breath in IBD relate to bacterial dysbiosis (sulphur compounds and ammonia) and oxidative stress (aldehydes)³– both mechanisms implicated in disease pathogenesis.

Disclosure of interest

None Declared.

References

Popov TA. Human exhaled breath analysis. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2011;106(6):451–6 Patel N, Alkhouri N, Eng K, et al. Metabolomic analysis of breath volatile organic compounds reveals unique breathprints in children with inflammatory bowel disease: a pilot study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2014;40(5):498–507 Bos LD, Sterk PJ, Schultz MJ. Volatile metabolites of pathogens: a systematic review. PLoS Pathog. 2013;9(5):e1003311