An interoperability framework for multicentric breath metabolomic studies
Amanda Gisler,
Kapil Dev Singh,
Jiafa Zeng,
Martin Osswald,
Mo Awchi,
Fabienne Decrue,
Felix Schmidt,
Noriane A. Sievi,
Xing Chen,
Jakob Usemann,
Urs Frey,
Malcolm Kohler,
Xue Li,
Pablo Sinues
Affiliations
Amanda Gisler
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Kapil Dev Singh
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland
Jiafa Zeng
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; Institute of Mass Spectrometry and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Martin Osswald
University Hospital Zurich USZ, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland
Mo Awchi
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland
Fabienne Decrue
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Felix Schmidt
University Hospital Zurich USZ, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland
Noriane A. Sievi
University Hospital Zurich USZ, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland
Xing Chen
Institute of Mass Spectrometry and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Jakob Usemann
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Urs Frey
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
Malcolm Kohler
University Hospital Zurich USZ, 8091 Zurich, Switzerland
Xue Li
Institute of Mass Spectrometry and Atmospheric Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
Pablo Sinues
University Children’s Hospital Basel UKBB, University of Basel, 4056 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Basel, 4123 Allschwil, Switzerland; Corresponding author
Summary: Exhaled breath contains valuable information at the molecular level and offers promising potential for precision medicine. However, few breath tests transition to routine clinical practice, partly because of the missing validation in multicenter trials. Therefore, we developed and applied an interoperability framework for standardized multicenter data acquisition and processing for breath analysis with secondary electrospray ionization-high resolution mass spectrometry. We aimed to determine the technical variability and metabolic coverage. Comparison of multicenter data revealed a technical variability of ∼20% and a core signature of the human exhaled metabolome consisting of ∼850 features, corresponding mainly to amino acid, xenobiotic, and carbohydrate metabolic pathways. In addition, we found high inter-subject variability for certain metabolic classes (e.g., amino acids and fatty acids), whereas other regions such as the TCA cycle were relatively stable across subjects. The interoperability framework and overview of metabolic coverage presented here will pave the way for future large-scale multicenter trials.
