The Scent of Cancer
Authors: Marc P. van der Schee, Lisette N. Venekamp, Peter W.A. Kunst
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2010)

Letters7 December 2010The Scent of CancerMarc P. van der Schee, MSc, Lisette N. Venekamp, MD, and Peter W.A. Kunst, MD, PhDMarc P. van der Schee, MScFrom Academic Medical Centre, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Search for more papers by this author, Lisette N. Venekamp, MDFrom Academic Medical Centre, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Search for more papers by this author, and Peter W.A. Kunst, MD, PhDFrom Academic Medical Centre, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-153-11-201012070-00022 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail TO THE EDITOR:We strongly support the notion by Steensma (1) that the analytic ability of noses is vastly underrated. The author rightfully asks: What does cancer actually smell like? Smell, either as a biological sense or chemical analytic process, is based on pattern recognition of complex mixtures of volatile organic compounds (2). In exhaled breath, these volatile compounds are products of both physiologic and pathologic metabolic pathways. As such, a scent can indeed function as a diagnostic tool in differentiating health from disease.Recently developed pattern-recognition analytic techniques based on electronic noses (3) (mimicking the mammalian nose [2]), gas ...References1. Steensma DP. The scent of cancer. Ann Intern Med. 2010;153:206-7. [PMID: 20679566] LinkGoogle Scholar2. Buck L, Axel R. A novel multigene family may encode odorant receptors: a molecular basis for odor recognition. Cell. 1991;65:175-87. [PMID: 1840504] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Dragonieri S, Annema JT, Schot R, van der Schee MP, Spanevello A, Carratú P, et al. An electronic nose in the discrimination of patients with non-small cell lung cancer and COPD. Lung Cancer. 2009;64:166-70. [PMID: 18834643] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Phillips M, Cataneo RN, Cummin AR, Gagliardi AJ, Gleeson K, Greenberg J, et al. Detection of lung cancer with volatile markers in the breath. Chest. 2003;123:2115-23. [PMID: 12796197] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Peng G, Hakim M, Broza YY, Billan S, Abdah-Bortnyak R, Kuten A, et al. Detection of lung, breast, colorectal, and prostate cancers from exhaled breath using a single array of nanosensors. Br J Cancer. 2010;103:542-51. [PMID: 20648015] CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Marc P. van der Schee, MSc; Lisette N. Venekamp, MD; Peter W.A. Kunst, MD, PhDAffiliations: From Academic Medical Centre, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Disclosures: None disclosed. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoThe Scent of Cancer David P. Steensma The Scent of Cancer Robert E. Jackson Metrics 7 December 2010Volume 153, Issue 11 Page: 767 Keywords Colorectal cancer Conflicts of interest Lung and intrathoracic tumors Lungs Metabolic pathways Necrosis Oxidative stress Prostate cancer Research laboratories Smell ePublished: 7 December 2010 Issue Published: 7 December 2010 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2010 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...