WIKIMEDIA, XENONRMelanoma cells give off a signature combination of gaseous chemicals that could be used as a biomarker for the early detection of the disease in human skin, according to a study published last week (June 14) in the Journal of Chromatography B.
Human skin releases chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOCs), many of which are odorous. It has been demonstrated that melanoma cells emit VOCs that differ from those of normal skin cells—a finding supported by studies showing that dogs can use their keen sense of smell to identify skin cancer. But it was not clear which VOCs distinguish melanoma from healthy skin cells.
To find out, George Preti of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), both in Philadelphia, collected compounds from sealed containers containing cultured melanoma cells at three different stages of development. The researchers then used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to study the VOC profiles of the diseased cells as well as healthy cells for comparison.
They found that ...
