Poster Audio: Identification of Putative Candidate Biomarkers for Asthma Using the Breath Biopsy VOC Atlas®
Exhaled breath contains a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that arise from biological processes and systems. A major challenge of breathomics research is in linking VOCs to the specific biological pathways they reflect. The Breath Biopsy VOC Atlas contains a rich repository of breath-related VOCs and the context in which they have been found. This includes subject and compound metadata with links to associated literature helping to enable the provisional classification of candidate biomarkers. Read more about the VOC Atlas here.
In this study, we aimed to classify asthma-associated VOCs as Pathophysiology-Associated or -Specific Biomarkers by comparing literature-reported compounds with a representative baseline from the Breath Biopsy VOC Atlas®, supporting biological interpretation and informing breath-based diagnostic development. Please see the graphical abstract below:
A: Asthma management is challenging due to multiple phenotypes, inflammatory subtypes and endotypes with different underlying molecular mechanisms or responses to treatment. Metabolomics is being explored as a route to discover biomarkers to identify disease endotypes or treatable traits, enabling a precision medicine approach to asthma treatment. B: An overview of the pathophysiology involved in asthma. C: Lipid peroxidation is thought to be one of the major producers of asthma-associated compounds, including several alkanes.
Rationale: Breath contains hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), many of which are produced locally in the respiratory tract and could serve as novel asthma biomarkers. VOCs can be produced by the immunological mechanisms that underpin asthma pathophysiology, and therefore could be used to stratify patients better. These can either be disease-specific biomarkers (DSB), i.e. those which are present in a set disease but absent in healthy controls, or disease-associated biomarkers (DAB), i.e. those associated with a biological process either elevated or depressed in disease. Categorizing biomarkers into either DSB or DAB is an essential aspect of guiding future test development, and concentration requirements. The Breath Biopsy VOC Atlas® is a curated database of VOCs confidently detectable in the exhaled breath of healthy individuals, and when interpreted alongside wider literature, can support the classification of biomarkers as either DAB or DSB.
This poster was presented at ATS 2025.
