Breath test for breast cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common and one of the most treatable human malignancies. One in every ten women now develops breast cancer at some time in her life. Fortunately, there is now conclusive evidence that early detection with screening mammography can reduce mortality from the disease. But mammography is not without its own problems: many women find the required breast compression to be uncomfortable and even painful. Also, the test is comparatively expensive and generates a large number of false positive findings, resulting in needless anxiety and biopsies. There is a clinical need for an alternative method of screening for breast cancer which is at least equally sensitive and specific, but is less painful and less expensive.

We recently completed a Phase 1 study of a breath test for breast cancer supported by an SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health. This was performed at two sites: Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, New York, NY, and Sisters of Charity Health Care System, Staten Island Campus, Staten Island, NY

We compared three groups of women

  - normal healthy controls
  - women with an abnormal mammogram whose biopsy was
    positive for breast cancer
  - women with an abnormal mammogram whose biopsy was
    negative for breast cancer

We found that breath markers of oxidative stress in the breath methylated alkane contour (BMAC) were altered in breast cancer, and provided an accurate new marker of the disease. The negative predictive value of the breath test was equivalent to a screening mammogram. Potentially the breath test could be used as a noninvasive screening test for breast cancer.

These findings have been reported in:

(PDF Document) Phillips M, Cataneo RN, Ditkoff BA, Fisher P, Greenberg J, Gunawardena R, Kwon CS, Rahbari-Oskoui F and Wong C: Volatile markers of breast cancer in the breath. The Breast Journal 2003; 9(3): 184-191.

(PDF Document) Phillips M, Cataneo RN, Greenberg J, Gunawardena R, Naidu A and Rahbari-Oskoui F: Effect of age on the breath methylated alkane contour, a display of apparent new markers of oxidative stress. Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine 2000: 136: 243-9.