Volatomics in inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome
Kathleen Van Malderen,
Benedicte Y. De Winter,
Joris G. De Man,
Heiko U. De Schepper,
Kevin Lamote
Affiliations
Kathleen Van Malderen
Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Infla-Med Research Consortium of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Benedicte Y. De Winter
Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Infla-Med Research Consortium of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Joris G. De Man
Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Infla-Med Research Consortium of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Heiko U. De Schepper
Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Infla-Med Research Consortium of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Antwerp University Hospital, Edegem, Belgium
Kevin Lamote
Laboratory of Experimental Medicine and Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Infla-Med Research Consortium of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Internal Medicine and Paediatrics, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Corresponding author at: University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are produced by the human metabolism, inflammation and gut microbiota and form the basis of innovative volatomics research. VOCs detected through breath and faecal analysis hence serve as attractive, non-invasive biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This review describes the clinical applicability of volatomics in discriminating between IBS, IBD and healthy volunteers with acceptable accuracy in breath (70%-100%) and faecal (58%-85%) samples. Promising compounds are propan-1-ol for diagnosing and monitoring of IBD patients, and 1-methyl-4-propan-2-ylcyclohexa-1,4-diene as biomarker for IBS diagnosis. However, these VOCs often seem to be related to inflammation and probably will need to be used in conjunction with other clinical evidence. Furthermore, three interventional studies underlined the potential of VOCs in predicting treatment outcome and patient follow-up. This shows great promise for future use of VOCs as non-invasive breath and faecal biomarkers in personalised medicine. However, properly designed studies that correlate VOCs to IBD/IBS pathogenesis, while taking microbial influences into account, are still key before clinical implementation can be expected. Keywords: Volatile organic compounds, VOC, Irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, inflammatory bowel disease, IBD
