MSACL 2019 EU Abstract

Mass Spectrometry Techniques for Volatile Organic Compound Measurement in Cell and Organoid Media

Ilaria Belluomo, Katerina V Savva, Bhamini Vadhwana, Tetsuji Furukawa, Antonis Myridakis, Qing Wen, Yan Mei Goh, Oscar Ayrton, Stefan Antonowicz, Piers R Boshier and George B Hanna.
Imperial College London, UK.

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Ilaria Belluomo (Presenter) Imperial College London >> POSTER (PDF)

Presenter Bio: Ilaria Belluomo is a postdoc scientist at the Surgery and Cancer department of Imperial College London. Her main interest is analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath as non-invasive diagnostic technique for early detection of different types of cancer. Currently, Ilaria is the senior scientist in the laboratory of Professor George Hanna, at St Mary’s hospital in London.
Ilaria is a biotechnologist graduated at the University of Bologna, Italy. In 2013 she finished her PhD with a thesis in analytical chemistry applied to endocrinology. The PhD was carried out between Italy (CRBA, centre of applied biomedical research, Bologna) and France (Neurocentre Magendie INSERM, Bordeaux) as part of a European PhD program, Doctor Europaeus. Mass spectrometry method development and their clinical applications were always the common tread in her career.

Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months) No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

Introduction. Measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath is increasing in importance as a non-invasive diagnostic tool, especially for complex pathologies such as cancer [1]. Many methodological and clinical studies have been carried out to develop sophisticated new mass spectrometry methods and pinpoint differences in VOC levels between patients and controls. However, the origin of VOCs and their imbalance in certain diseases remain poorly understood. In a recent study from our group, cancer tissue headspace (HS) has been analysed ex-vivo to evaluate the in-loco production of VOCs [2]. In this study, we developed two different techniques of sample collection and analysis for VOCs in the HS of cells and organoids to create a new tool that will help clarify the role and production of VOCs in-vitro.
Methods. VOCs were measured in the HS of human gastric organoid culture and HCT116 cells using two different methods: (i) direct HS measurement via a heated inlet attached to a proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) (ii) indirect measurement of VOC extracted from media using HiSORB probes with PTR-ToF-MS. The two methods were compared in terms of recovery, linearity of the response and precision.
Results and Conclusion. We created a new direct and indirect approach for VOC measurement in organoids and cell lines that offer a good recovery and linear response. The method can be widely used to enhance the future understanding of VOC origin and imbalance, therefore offering new strategies for early diagnosis and monitoring of complex pathologies.



1. Hanna, G.B., et al., Accuracy and Methodologic Challenges of Volatile Organic Compound-Based Exhaled Breath Tests for Cancer Diagnosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Oncol, 2018: p. e182815.
2. Adam, M.E., et al., Mass-Spectrometry Analysis of Mixed-Breath, Isolated-Bronchial-Breath, and Gastric-Endoluminal-Air Volatile Fatty Acids in Esophagogastric Cancer. Anal Chem, 2019. 91(5): p. 3740-3746.