These sensors promise to diagnose lung cancer from breath

In the future there could be important advances in the diagnosis of lung cancer. A team of researchers from Zhejiang University, in China, managed to perfect sensors capable of detecting differences in the composition of breathin particular, the decrease in the levels of the molecule called ‘isoprene’, which are the beginnings of this condition. The research was published in the pages of the magazine Ac Sensors and it arrives right in November, the month dedicated to lung cancer awareness.

How do the new sensors work?

The air we exhale is made up of many different molecules: there is carbon dioxide and a lot of water vapor, but also other volatile molecules, including isoprene. Previous research concluded that a decrease in isoprene levels in exhaled air could be an indication of lung cancer. However, capturing these differences is not so easy because the unit of measurement is “parts per million”; Sensitive sensors that resist breath humidity are required, and so far attempts have been poor.

According to the Chinese researchers, their indium oxide sensors can detect isoprene at levels found in human breath. The sensors are made of “nanoflakes” of platinum, indium and nickel, and are capable of detecting isoprene levels as low as 2 parts per billion. A sensitivity never achieved by other models.

Once the technical characteristics were determined, the scientists inserted the nanowire sensors into a portable detection device and performed some tests: they introduced exhaled air samples collected from 13 people; five of whom had been diagnosed with lung cancer. The device detected isoprene levels higher than 60 parts per billion in samples from healthy participants and lower than 40 parts per billion in samples from patients with the disease. The authors suggest that this technology could be a breakthrough towards non-invasive lung cancer screening and potentially save lives.

Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Alondra Flores.