title: Inflammatory Asthma Phenotype Discrimination Using an Electronic Nose Breath Analyzer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patients with persistent asthma have different inflammatory phenotypes. The electronic nose is a new technology capable of distinguishing volatile organic compound (VOC) breath-prints in exhaled breath. The aim of the study was to investigate the capacity of electronic nose breath-print analysis to discriminate between different inflammatory asthma phenotypes (eosinophilic, neutrophilic, paucigranulocytic) determined by induced sputum in patients with persistent asthma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-two patients with persistent asthma were consecutively included in a cross-sectional proof-of-concept study. Inflammatory asthma phenotypes (eosinophilic, neutrophilic and paucigranulocytic) were recognized by inflammatory cell counts in induced sputum. VOC breath-prints were analyzed using the electronic nose Cyranose 320 and assessed by discriminant analysis on principal component reduction, resulting in cross-validated accuracy values. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  VOC breath-prints were different in eosinophilic asthmatics compared with both neutrophilic asthmatics (accuracy 73%; P=.008; area under ROC, 0.92) and paucigranulocytic asthmatics (accuracy 74%; P=.004; area under ROC, 0.79). Likewise, neutrophilic and paucigranulocytic breath-prints were also different (accuracy 89%; P=.001; area under ROC, 0.88).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An electronic nose can discriminate inflammatory phenotypes in patients with persistent asthma in a regular clinical setting. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02026336.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Plaza
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crespo
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Giner
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Merino
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ramos-Barbón
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Mateus
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torrego
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Cosio
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Agustí
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sibila
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000276:immunology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D062609:Electronic Nose; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds