Profiling of Exhaled Breath Biopsies in Lymphoma and Leukaemia
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Profiling of Exhaled Breath Biopsies in Lymphoma and Leukaemia (PEBBLE) Study
IRAS ID
276205
Contact name
John Riches
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
A key feature of cancer cells is that they have a metabolism that is different from most other cells in the body. This is so that they can grow and increase in number leading to progression of a patient’s cancer. As a consequence, they produce a number of substances that are not found at the same levels in healthy people. These include organic substances that can easily evaporate into their breath, known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These VOCs can be detected by dogs, something that is thought to explain instances of when a person’s pet detected their cancer some time before they were formally diagnosed. While this is a well-recognised phenomenon, dogs need to be trained, are not always reliable and cannot identify specific VOCs. There is rapidly increasing interest in the use of more standard scientific techniques, such as mass spectrometry, to identify and measure the quantity of VOCs in cancer patients’ breath. While there have been several studies in lung and other cancers, no research has been done in blood cancers. Given that the purpose of breathing is to transfer gases from people’s blood into the air via the lungs, it seems reasonable to hypothesise that blood cancers will have a specific VOC “fingerprint”. The purpose of this project is to use the latest breath testing technology to study the breath of patients with leukaemia and lymphoma to establish whether they have a VOC fingerprint that can be used for the detection and monitoring of these cancers. This can be done rapidly and non-invasively avoiding the need for painful procedures such as blood taking and operations. Identification of individual VOCs may also help us identify the processes that cancer cells use to make them, allowing us to develop drugs that block this and kill the cancer cells.
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SW/0094
Date of REC Opinion
19 Jun 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion