| Title: | Screening of Chorioamnionitis Using Volatile Organic Compound Detection in Exhaled Breath: A Pre-clinical Proof of Concept Study |
| Author(s): | Ophelders D; Boots AW; Hutten MC; Al-Nasiry S; Jellema RK; Spiller OB; van Schooten FJ; Smolinska A; Wolfs T; |
| Address: | "Department of Pediatrics, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, Netherlands. GROW School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands. Department Pharmacology and Toxicology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands. NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, Netherlands. Division of Infection and Immunity, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2296-2360 (Print) 2296-2360 (Electronic) 2296-2360 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Chorioamnionitis is a major risk factor for preterm birth and an independent risk factor for postnatal morbidity for which currently successful therapies are lacking. Emerging evidence indicates that the timing and duration of intra-amniotic infections are crucial determinants for the stage of developmental injury at birth. Insight into the dynamical changes of organ injury after the onset of chorioamnionitis revealed novel therapeutic windows of opportunity. Importantly, successful development and implementation of therapies in clinical care is currently impeded by a lack of diagnostic tools for early (prenatal) detection and surveillance of intra-amniotic infections. In the current study we questioned whether an intra-amniotic infection could be accurately diagnosed by a specific volatile organic compound (VOC) profile in exhaled breath of pregnant sheep. For this purpose pregnant Texel ewes were inoculated intra-amniotically with Ureaplasma parvum and serial collections of exhaled breath were performed for 6 days. Ureaplasma parvum infection induced a distinct VOC-signature in expired breath of pregnant sheep that was significantly different between day 0 and 1 vs. day 5 and 6. Based on a profile of only 15 discriminatory volatiles, animals could correctly be classified as either infected (day 5 and 6) or not (day 0 and 1) with a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 71% and an area under the curve of 0.93. Chemical identification of these distinct VOCs revealed the presence of a lipid peroxidation marker nonanal and various hydrocarbons including n-undecane and n-dodecane. These data indicate that intra-amniotic infections can be detected by VOC analyses of exhaled breath and might provide insight into temporal dynamics of intra-amniotic infection and its underlying pathways. In particular, several of these volatiles are associated with enhanced oxidative stress and undecane and dodecane have been reported as predictive biomarker of spontaneous preterm birth in humans. Applying VOC analysis for the early detection of intra-amniotic infections will lead to appropriate surveillance of these high-risk pregnancies, thereby facilitating appropriate clinical course of action including early treatment of preventative measures for pre-maturity-associated morbidities" |
| Keywords: | biomarker chorioamnionitis exhaled breath volatile organic compound non-invasive diagnostics preterm birth; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINEOphelders, Daan R M G Boots, Agnes W Hutten, Matthias C Al-Nasiry, Salwan Jellema, Reint K Spiller, Owen B van Schooten, Frederik-Jan Smolinska, Agnieszka Wolfs, Tim G A M eng Switzerland 2021/06/15 Front Pediatr. 2021 May 26; 9:617906. doi: 10.3389/fped.2021.617906. eCollection 2021" |
