Approximately every three minutes, one person in the US is diagnosed with blood cancer, adding up to an estimated 1.7 million people in the States living with or in remission from it today. Since early symptoms can be confused with less serious ailments, and current diagnostic tests are often expensive, invasive, and not widely accessible, a new technology could bring a fresh breath to the process.
According to a recent study conducted by scientists from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and published in HemaSphere, a simple and deep exhale could revolutionize the detection of blood cancer. This first successful demonstration of spotting blood cancer-specific biomarkers in breath samples could lead to a tool that accelerates diagnosis, provides a low-cost alternative, and serves areas with limited access to specialist equipment.
Blood Cancer Can Be Challenging to Detect
There are three main types of blood cancer, affecting different parts of the blood system: leukemia (affecting blood and bone marrow), lymphoma (affecting the lymphatic system), and myeloma (affecting plasma cells), with varying degrees of danger depending on the specific type and individual factors, ranging from highly curable to aggressive and life-threatening.
Every treatment intervention starts with a diagnosis, which, overall, is not as easy and early-made as one would hope. Because common symptoms mirror everyday ailments, such as fatigue and weight loss, catching it early can be challenging. Besides wading through unclear early symptoms, diagnostic tools like imaging scans and biopsies are not widely accessible and can be expensive.
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Using Breath to Diagnose Cancer
To accelerate and simplify testing for blood cancer, the research team from QMUL were curious about how an already established method for another cancer type could be applied to blood cancer detection.
“Previous studies have shown the value of using breath tests to detect lung cancer. But no one had ever investigated whether blood cancer cells release molecules that pass into the breath, despite the purpose of breathing being to exchange substances between the blood and the breath,” said John Riches, clinical reader at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, in a press statement.
What followed was a study using breathalyzer technology to collect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), produced by our bodies and released into the breath, potentially giving clues on cancer biomarkers arising from the blood. They collected breath samples from 74 participants, 46 of whom were already diagnosed with blood cancer.
After identifying thousands of molecular fragments using mass spectrometry (a technique that separates and identifies molecules based on their mass) the scientists saw a distinguishable breath profile in people with acute leukemia and high-grade lymphoma compared to the healthy control group, underscoring the method’s potential as a diagnostic alternative.
Raising Accessibility for Diagnostic Tools
Going forward, testing one's breath could become a fast, inexpensive tool to diagnose blood cancers early, enabling better monitoring and treatment outcomes due to rapid diagnosis.
“In future, rather than sending patients away for costly scans and waiting for test results, doctors may be able to conduct a quick breath test in their clinic room and potentially have the results within a few seconds,” added Riches, also underscoring how this technology holds potential to serve low-resource settings and rural areas.
The next steps are refining the technology to make it more sensitive, allowing it to differentiate between different types of blood cancer, and reducing the breath volume needed to collect valid samples.
This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.
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Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: Facts and Statistics Overview
Owlstone Medical: A Breathalyzer for Disease
Having worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.
