New Nose-Like Gadget To Detect Skin Cancer

Researchers have come up with the concept of specific chemical analysis to explore odor profiling in a novel and non-invasive to diagnose the most common form of skin cancer in the United States.

The research was conducted by Michelle Gallagher, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia during the study, and her team. Gallagher presented the findings Wednesday at the American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition in Philadelphia.

Speaking about the research, Gallagh said, "We found that the odor profile coming from the skin of skin cancer patients was markedly different than that coming from healthy skin. So, we think that this kind of biomarker could be used in a rapid and noninvasive way to detect skin cancer. And this would be novel, because now the only way to do so is with a visual exam and a biopsy, which is, of course, invasive."

During the course of the study, Gallagher and her team took samples of air above back and forearm areas in 25 healthy subjects, aged between 19 and 80 years. Next, they tested the air above tumor sites in 11 basal cell carcinoma patients, and also tested the air above the disease-free skin of 11 healthy volunteers.

The study documented that cancerous tissue and healthy tissue exuded distinctly different odors. The diseased area had more of some chemicals and less of others.

With the findings of the research as a stepping stone, the next attempt of the team would be to try and fashion a kind of "electronic nose," which can sweep across skin surface and detect cancer. This they would attempt to achieve by developing an odor profile for each form of skin cancer, and linking the profiles to nano-sensor technology.

"This work is preliminary," said Gallagher. "But I think within a few years, it's reasonable to say that this could end up being a diagnostic tool that would be a routine thing one could do in a doctor's office. It's a real possibility."

However, Dr. Jean-Claude Bystryn, former head of the melanoma program and vaccine clinic at New York University Medical Center, was not so optimistic. "In terms of this replacing the standard method we have of diagnosing skin cancer, which is basically to look at a specimen under the microscope, it's hard to imagine this would do it completely," he said.

"Because when you're dealing with cancer, the margin for error is really small. You don't want to miss something that may be a cancer that then doesn't get treated. And you don't want to treat someone for cancer if they actually have something else. So, it's really a very novel and interesting idea but one which I think really needs to be further researched and carefully confirmed," Dr. Bystryn added.

Odor profiling to detect skin cancers has been conducted earlier with the help of trained dogs, Gallagher mentioned in her report. It has also been used to screen other types of cancer. A case in point is the February success of Cleveland Clinic investigators to detect lung cancer in 75 percent of cases with the help of an inexpensive breath sensor.