Breath methane to hydrogen ratio as a surrogate marker of intestinal dysbiosis in head and neck cancer

Nuwan Dharmawardana; Thomas Goddard; Charmaine Woods; David I. Watson; Ross Butler; Eng H. Ooi; Roger Yazbeck

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-72115-2

Breath methane to hydrogen ratio as a surrogate marker of intestinal dysbiosis in head and neck cancer

Nuwan Dharmawardana, Thomas Goddard, Charmaine Woods, David I. Watson, Ross Butler, Eng H. Ooi, Roger Yazbeck

College of Medicine and Public Health

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Exhaled breath compounds can non-invasively detect head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here we investigated exhaled compounds related to intestinal bacterial carbohydrate fermentation. Fasting breath samples were collected into 3 litre FlexFoil PLUS bags from patients awaiting a biopsy procedure for suspected HNSCC. Samples were analysed using a Syft selected ion flow-tube mass spectrometer and a Quintron BreathTracker. Two tailed non-parametric significance testing was conducted with corrections for multiple imputations. 74 patients were diagnosed (histological) with HNSCC and 61 patients were benign (controls). The methane to hydrogen ratio was significantly different between cancer and non-cancer controls (p = 0.0440). This ratio increased with tumour stage with a significant difference between T1 and T4 tumours (p = 0.0259). Hydrogen levels were significantly higher in controls who were smokers (p = 0.0129), with no smoking dependent methane changes. There were no differences in short chain fatty acids between groups. Exhaled compounds of intestinal carbohydrate fermentation can detect HNSCC patients. These findings suggest a modified carbohydrate fermentation profile in HNSCC patients that is tumour stage and smoking status dependent.

Original language	English
Article number	15010
Number of pages	8
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	10
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72115-2
Publication status	Published - 14 Sept 2020

Bibliographical note

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/

Keywords

Biomarkers
Cancer
Head and neck cancer
Immunology
Oncology
Medical research

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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title = "Breath methane to hydrogen ratio as a surrogate marker of intestinal dysbiosis in head and neck cancer",

abstract = "Exhaled breath compounds can non-invasively detect head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Here we investigated exhaled compounds related to intestinal bacterial carbohydrate fermentation. Fasting breath samples were collected into 3 litre FlexFoil PLUS bags from patients awaiting a biopsy procedure for suspected HNSCC. Samples were analysed using a Syft selected ion flow-tube mass spectrometer and a Quintron BreathTracker. Two tailed non-parametric significance testing was conducted with corrections for multiple imputations. 74 patients were diagnosed (histological) with HNSCC and 61 patients were benign (controls). The methane to hydrogen ratio was significantly different between cancer and non-cancer controls (p = 0.0440). This ratio increased with tumour stage with a significant difference between T1 and T4 tumours (p = 0.0259). Hydrogen levels were significantly higher in controls who were smokers (p = 0.0129), with no smoking dependent methane changes. There were no differences in short chain fatty acids between groups. Exhaled compounds of intestinal carbohydrate fermentation can detect HNSCC patients. These findings suggest a modified carbohydrate fermentation profile in HNSCC patients that is tumour stage and smoking status dependent.",

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Breath methane to hydrogen ratio as a surrogate marker of intestinal dysbiosis in head and neck cancer

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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