Owlstone Medical Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Huw Davies, PhD, Lara Pocock, MSc, BSc, Nabeetha Nagalingam, PhD, Wisenave Arulvasan, , Simon Coplowe, , Ella Mead, , Elizabeth Lam, , Steven Levett, , Rosalia Hazel, , Shane Swann, PhD, Matteo Tardelli, PhD, Hsuan Chou, PhD, Owen Birch, , Liam Grimmett, , Julia Greenwood, , Patrick Gordon, , Giuseppe Ferrandino, PhD, Madeleine Ball, PhD, Billy Boyle, MS Owlstone Medical, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom
Introduction: The gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome plays a crucial role in digestive health. Apart from providing colonization resistance to pathogens, it produces a myriad of metabolites that function to enforce barrier integrity, stimulate the immune system, and are key substrates for other essential pathways that maintain host health. Many of these compounds are transported from the gut to the lungs via the circulatory system. They are then volatilized and excreted in exhaled breath.
The VOC Atlas is a curated database of VOCs detectable on breath, and has the potential to give new perspectives on microbiome studies, uncover new findings and gain confidence in results.
Methods: The VOC Atlas contains breath samples from ~170 adult volunteers to date. Samples were analyzed using thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). Compounds are found to be present on breath if fulfilling three criteria: 1) sample signal >3 standard deviations higher than background 2) paired t-test p-value < 0.05 and fold difference >2 between breath and paired blank 3) receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) >0.8.
Results: The VOC Atlas currently contains >180 identified VOCs, with 47 being microbiome-associated, including short-chain fatty acids. In a nominally healthy population, we can detect 1.20- 25.69 ng/L butyric acid (median= 2.92), 0.01- 203.70 ng/L acetic acid (median= 2.77), 0.01- 115.49 ng/L propanoic acid (median= 0.13), 0.05- 9.09 ng/L isobutyric acid (median= 2.08), 0.17- 66.37 ng/L 2-methylbutanoic acid (median= 1.19) and 0.16- 29.20 ng/L isovaleric acid (median= 1.56) on breath.
Discussion: The ability to reliably detect microbiome-associated VOCs on breath, paired with a curated repository of VOCs found on breath could transform microbiome research. The VOC Atlas could aid in biomarker discovery by providing normal ranges for key compounds in healthy subjects that can later be compared to levels in disease cohorts. Furthermore, alongside other tools such as metagenomics and inflammation profiling, the Atlas could provide a more holistic view of the role of the GI microbiome in digestive diseases.
Disclosures:
Huw Davies indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Lara Pocock indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Nabeetha Nagalingam: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Wisenave Arulvasan: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Simon Coplowe: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Ella Mead: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Elizabeth Lam: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Steven Levett: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Rosalia Hazel: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Shane Swann: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Matteo Tardelli: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Hsuan Chou: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Owen Birch: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Liam Grimmett: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Julia Greenwood: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Patrick Gordon: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Giuseppe Ferrandino: Owlstone Medical – Employee.
Madeleine Ball indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Billy Boyle indicated no relevant financial relationships.
Huw Davies, PhD, Lara Pocock, MSc, BSc, Nabeetha Nagalingam, PhD, Wisenave Arulvasan, , Simon Coplowe, , Ella Mead, , Elizabeth Lam, , Steven Levett, , Rosalia Hazel, , Shane Swann, PhD, Matteo Tardelli, PhD, Hsuan Chou, PhD, Owen Birch, , Liam Grimmett, , Julia Greenwood, , Patrick Gordon, , Giuseppe Ferrandino, PhD, Madeleine Ball, PhD, Billy Boyle, MS. P3671 - Introducing the VOC Atlas: A List of Microbiome-Associated VOCs for Breath-Based Biomarker Discovery, ACG 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. Philadelphia, PA: American College of Gastroenterology.
