Affiliations: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Jinian Shu, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. E-mail:jshu@rcees.ac.cn
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Identifying endogenous volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) as markers for different cancers currently requires time-consuming
procedures and specialized operators. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to develop a rapid and
simple method for measuring VOCs at trace levels. METHODS: A simple vacuum ultraviolet photoionization mass
spectrometer (VUV-PIMS) was used to detect trace levels of dimethyl
trisulfide (DMTS), dimethyl sulfide (DMS), and 2-butanone, which correspond
to volatile biomarker candidates present in the exhaled breath of patients
with breast, liver, and lung cancers, respectively. The practicality of
measuring endogenous VOCs using VUV-PIMS was confirmed by detecting them in
cultured cell lines. RESULTS: The abovementioned VOCs were detected with high
sensitivity by VUV-PIMS. The limits of detection (LODs) for DMTS, DMS, and
2-butanone were 3.1, 3.9, and 23.2 pptv, respectively, under ambient
conditions, which surpass the sensitivity of nearly all other MS-based
techniques. Moreover, relatively high concentrations of 2-butanone and DMS
were observed in VOCs emitted from the A549 lung cancer cell line and the
HepG2 liver cancer cell line, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our
results show that VUV-PIMS may serve as a reliable method for real-time
measurement of endogenous volatile cancer biomarkers.
