Patent Application: US-43679899-A

Abstract:
the alkane profile , comprising the alveolar gradients of n - alkanes in breath having 2 to 20 carbons , and the alveolar gradients of methylated c3 - c20 alkanes , is determined for the diagnosis of disease in mammals , including humans .

Description:
collection of breath and air samples : the method has been described in reference nos . 16 , 17 , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 465 , 728 entitled “ breath collection ,” and u . s . application ser . no . 09 / 229 , 020 entitled “ a breath test for the detection of various diseases ,” all incorporated herein by reference . voc &# 39 ; s in breath and room air were collected with a breath collection apparatus ( bca ), a portable microprocessor - controlled device . subjects wore a nose clip while inspiring and expiring through a low - resistance disposable mouthpiece into a wide bore breath reservoir ( 1 . 0 inch dia ) open to the atmosphere at its distal end . the breath reservoir was heated in order to prevent condensation of water . alveolar breath was pumped from the breath reservoir through a sorbent trap where the breath vocs were captured on activated carbon ( 200 mg carbotrap c ( 20 / 40 mesh ) and 200 mg carbopack b ( 60 / 80 mesh ) ( supelco , inc , bellefonte , pa .). the geometry of the system ensured that the sample comprised alveolar breath virtually uncontaminated by dead - space air . the collection period was 2 . 0 min at 0 . 5 l / min , and vocs in two separate 1 . 0 l samples were collected : one of breath , and one of background room air . breath voc assay : the method has been described in references 16 and 17 incoporated herein by reference . voc &# 39 ; s were desorbed from the sorbent trap heating it to 300 ° c . in an automated thermal desorber ( atd 400 , perkin elmer , norwalk , conn ., usa ). a stream of helium flushed the voc &# 39 ; s onto a concentrator , a refrigerated sorbent trap maintained at 0 ° c . the concentrated sample of voc &# 39 ; s was then heated to 300 ° c ., and the volatilized voc &# 39 ; s were separated by gas chromatography ( gc ), and identified and quantified by mass spectroscopy ( ms ). human subjects : breath samples were collected between 7 . 00 am and 12 . 00 noon from 99 normal volunteers aged from 9 to 89 who had fasted from the previous midnight . subjects sat for approximately 30 min prior to the collections of breath and air in order to allow time for equilibration between voc &# 39 ; s in room air and in the blood . human research was approved by the institutional review board of st . vincent &# 39 ; s medical center , staten island , ny . analysis of data : the relative abundance of each alkane ( c4 to c20 ) and its methylated derivatives were determined by the ratio of its chromatographic area under the curve ( auc ) to the auc of internal standard ( 0 . 25 ml 2 ppm 1 - bromo - 4 - fluoro - benzene , supelco ). the alveolar gradient of each voc was determined as the abundance in alveolar breath minus the abundance in room air . in each subject , a three dimensional breath methylated alkane contour ( bmac ) was constructed by plotting the carbon skeleton length ( x - axis ) versus the methylation site ( z - axis ) versus the alveolar gradient ( y - axis ). the median age was used to split the group into younger and older halves ( younger half : n = 49 , range 9 - 40 , mean = 30 . 3 years ; older half : n = 50 , range 40 - 89 , mean = 68 . 3 year ; p & lt ; 0 . 0001 ). the mean bmacs are shown for all subjects , younger subjects and older subjects in fig2 and 4 respectively . 25 of these vocs were significantly different in the two groups ( table 1 ). smokers ( n = 11 ) were compared to age matched non - smokers ; their mean bmacs are shown in fig5 and 6 respectively . from the above , it was found that : 1 . the bmac was developed as a new marker of oxidative stress in humans . 2 . the mean bmac in normal humans varied with age : 25 species of alkanes and methylated alkanes were significantly different in older and younger subjects . since most of the compounds were increased in the older subjects , these differences may have been due to b . a decrease in metabolism by cytochrome p450 enzymes with age , or these findings were consistent with previous reports of increased oxidative stress and breath pentane concentrations with age in normal humans ( 18 , 19 ). 3 . the mean bmac in normal humans varied with smoking status . compounds were both increased and decreased in the smokers , these differences were most likely due to a combination of : a . increased clearance of alkanes and methylalkanes by cytochrome p450 enzymes induced smoking . this is consistent with previous reports that tobacco smoking is a potent inducer of cytochrome p450 enzymes ( 20 - 22 ). b . increased oxidative stress with smoking , which is also likely in view of previous reports linking smoking with oxidative stress ( 23 - 25 ). more than 17 , 000 people now live with a transplanted heart in the united states ( 26 ). all of them require periodic screening for heart transplant rejection , but this condition is frequently difficult to detect . clinical manifestations such as malaise , fatigue , dyspnea , edema , and anorexia are all relatively insensitive and non - specific ; so too are non - invasive tests such as electrocardiography , echocardiography , thallium scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging . hence , right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy remains the standard against which all other tests are compared ( 27 - 31 ). endomyocardial biopsy is employed to identify allograft rejection or infection , and assess the efficacy of treatment . post - operative biopsies are generally performed weekly for the first six weeks , biweekly until the third month , then monthly until the sixth month . subsequent biopsies are scheduled on an individual basis . however , right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy is an invasive and comparatively expensive procedure which may result in complications including hematoma , infection , arrhythmia , ventricular perforation , and fistulas . this has stimulated research into alternative non - invasive tests for heart transplant rejection such as breath microanalysis ( 32 ). breath tests for heart transplant rejection are based on two observations : first , allograft rejection is accompanied by oxidative stress , due to the increased production of reactive oxygen species ( ros ) in the myocardium ( 33 , 34 ). second , ros degrade cellular membranes by lipid peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids ( pufas ), evolving alkanes and alkane derivatives which are excreted in the breath as volatile organic compounds ( vocs ) ( 35 , 36 ) ( fig7 ). animal studies have also demonstrated increased oxidative stress in allografts of heart and liver ( 37 , 38 ). the resulting chemical and anatomical disruption of membranes may progress to cellular dysfunction and death . voc &# 39 ; s produced by this process include alkanes ( e . g . pentane ) and alkane derivatives which are excreted in the breath where they may provide clinically useful markers of oxidative stress . the breath methylated alkane contour ( bmac ) was employed to study breath markers of rejection in heart transplant patients undergoing endomyocardial biopsy . human subjects : characteristics of the subject population are shown in table 2 . 210 technically satisfactory breath voc samples were collected from heart transplant recipients on the same day as regular scheduled endomyocardial biopsy . patients were studied at three sites : newark beth israel medical center , newark , n . j . ( n = 24 ), mt . sinai medical center , new york , n . y . ( n = 37 ), and columbia presbyterian medical center , new york , n . y . ( n = 149 ). twenty ( 20 ) age - matched normal controls were selected from a data base of fasting normal subjects studied at the sisters of charity medical center , st . vincent &# 39 ; s campus , staten island , n . y . ( 14 ). the research was approved by the institutional review boards of all participating institutions . breath collection and assay : the method has been described ( 39 , 40 ). in summary , a portable bca was employed to capture the vocs in 1 . 0 l breath onto a sorbent trap ; vocs in 1 . 0 l room air were captured on a separate sorbent trap . subjects wore a nose clip while breathing in and out of the disposable mouthpiece of the bca for 2 . 0 min . light flap valves in the mouthpiece presented low resistance to respiration , and it was possible to collect breath samples without discomfort even from elderly patients and those suffering from pulmonary disease . all sorbent traps were sent to the laboratory for analysis of vocs by atd / gc / ms . grading of rejection : endomyocardial biopsies were jointly evaluated by two pathologists who graded the degree of rejection employing a standard rating scale from 0 ( no evidence of rejection ) through ia , ib , ii and iiia ( 41 ) . masking procedures : sorbent traps were analyzed for vocs in the laboratory by technical assistants who had no knowledge of the pathological findings . the pathologists reviewing the biopsies had no knowledge of the results of the breath test ; analysis of data : all chromatograms of breath and air were automatically downloaded into computer - based spreadsheets , and then into a computer - based relational data base . the breath methylated alkane contour ( bmac ) was determined in all subjects . human subjects and endomyocardial biopsies : all human subjects recruited for the research were able to donate a breath sample into the bca , and none reported any discomfort or adverse effects from the breath collection procedure . two pathologists graded rejection in the endomyocardial biopsies : grade 0 118 / 210 , ( 56 . 2 %), ia 48 / 210 ( 22 . 9 %), ib 14 / 210 ( 6 . 7 %), ii 23 / 210 ( 10 . 9 %) and iiia 7 / 210 ( 3 . 3 %). only one of the age - matched normal controls and three of the transplant recipients were smokers , so the potential effects of smoking were not analyzed separately . breath vocs : differences between heart transplant recipients and normals : the mean bmacs of heart transplant recipients with grade 0 rejection ( i . e . no histological evidence of rejection ) and age - matched normal controls are shown in fig8 and table 3 . breath vocs : differences between heart transplant recipients with different grades of rejection : the mean bmacs of heart transplant recipients with grade 0 , grade ia and ib , grade ii and grade iiia rejection are shown in fig9 and table 4 . determination of sensitivity and specificity : the bmacs were analyzed by logistic regression in order to compare the results of the breath test in heart transplant recipients with no evidence of rejection ( grade 0 ) to those with any evidence of rejection ( grades ia , ib , ii and iiia ). the probability of heart transplant rejection was calculated for each patient , and displayed in a scatter diagram ( fig1 ). the sensitivity and specificity of the breath test was determined from these values ( fig1 ). the bmac identified grade iiia rejection with 100 % sensitivity and 68 . 6 % specificity , grade ii rejection with 73 . 9 % sensitivity and 64 . 4 % specificity , and grade ia and ib rejection with 75 . 8 % sensitivity and 64 . 4 % specificity . 1 . oxidative stress was greater in heart transplant recipients than in age - matched normal controls . 2 . oxidative stress increased with the severity of heart transplant rejection . 3 . the breath test was sensitive and specific for clinically significant rejection . 1 . oxidative stress was greater in heart transplant recipients than in age - matched normal controls . compared to age - matched normal controls , the bmac was significantly elevated in heart transplant recipients who had no microscopic signs of rejection in their endomyocardial biopsy . the differences were qualitatively similar to the differences observed between normal non - smokers and smokers ( fig5 and 6 ). this finding is consistent with an abnormally high level of oxidative stress in the transplanted heart , possibly resulting from chronic subclinical inflammation and / or rejection . oxidative stress has been proposed as a risk factor for coronary artery disease , but the linkage has not been convincingly proven ( 42 , 43 ). however , accelerated coronary artery disease is now the major cause of death in heart transplant recipients who have survived more than one year ( 44 , 45 ), and increased oxidative stress may play a role in its development . 2 . oxidative stress increased with the severity of heart transplant rejection . coenzyme q10 is depleted in transplanted human hearts , and mitochondrial respiratory chain function and energy production vary with the histological severity of rejection ( 46 ), so it is possible that increased oxidative stress might have been caused by impaired mitochondrial function . 3 . the breath test was sensitive and specific for clinically significant rejection . in most heart transplant centers , only grade iii rejection is treated aggressively . the sensitivity and specificity of the breath test in in heart transplant recipients with grade ii and grade iii rejection was sufficiently high to serve as a screening test to identify those who required additional evaluation and treatment from those who did not . the test was noninvasive , safe , and highly acceptable to patients . breath testing of heart transplant recipients could potentially reduce the number of endomyocardial biopsies performed every year , with a consequent reduction in patient morbidity and health - care costs . the bmac appears to provide a new and highly sensitive marker of oxidative stress . as such , it may have a role in a number of diseases for primary screening , as well as to monitor the efficacy of treatment . based on previous studies , breath testing for the bmac may be of potential clinical value in the detection and treatment of breast cancer , lung cancer , ischemic heart disease , and kidney disease , though this is not intended as an exclusive list . table 1 : alkanes and methylalkanes significantly increased in older normals : 2 - tailed t - tests comparing the compounds shown in fig3 and 4 , demonstrating the statistical significance of the differences between younger and older normal humans . table 2 : characteristics of subject population . a number of the heart transplant recipients were studied more than once , on different occasions at least one month apart . there was no significant difference between the ages of the heart transplant recipients and the normal controls . table 3 : alkanes and methylalkanes in heart transplant recipients : grade 0 rejection versus age - 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