DNA investigation in the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in non-small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Aim: Exhaled breath condensate (EBC), one of the materials which is used to detect mutations in the early period, is collected by completely non-invasive a technique which has no risk for the patient.  We aimed to investigate whether EBC samples are suitable for the detection of DNA or not in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and control patients.   

Methods: 26 patients with NSCLC and 20 patients without lung cancer were included in the study. EBC procedure was performed by the help of Eco Screen- Jaeger device in 10-15 minutes during breathing at the tidal volume. DNA was isolated using tissue spin-column DNA isolation kit in the collected EBC.        

Results: DNA amount was twofold high in the NSCLC group than non-cancer patients in spite of short time (p>0.05). However, in cancer group DNA amount was found lower in patients with endobronchial lesions than without endobronchial lesions (p>0.05). Although, there was no relationship between DNA amount and all of EBC collection time, collected sample amount and expiration air volume in the cancer group, a positive relations was detected between DNA amount and EBC collection time in the non-cancer group.  

Conclusıon: This may be explained by the pathological changes which occur at the cellular level in the lungs during cancer development process. However, it may also result from relative decrease which develops from redundancy of EBC volume in the non-cancer group. The source of DNA in EBC may be considered to be pathological changes resulting from the systemic inflammatory response, apart from the localized lesion in the lungs.