Balkees Abderrahman on exhaled breath biopsy for cancer diagnosis

Balkees Abderrahman (MD Anderson Cancer Center, TX, USA, and the University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK) discusses the latest developments in exhaled breath biopsy tests, the clinical trials underway that are testing them and the future applications for this technique in cancer diagnosis.    Could you please describe the exhaled breath biopsy diagnostic technique? Exhaled breath is infused with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are carbon-containing compounds that are volatile enough to be detectable in the gas phase at room temperature.  Many diseases, including certain cancers, have altered cellular metabolisms, which can potentially generate disease-indicative (or biomarker) VOCs that can be our roadmap to their early diagnosis. As one example, small-bowel bacteria overgrowth is associated...