Use of Urine Volatile Organic Compounds To Discriminate Tuberculosis Patients from Healthy Subjects

• Published in: Analytical chemistry (Washington) Vol. 83; no. 14; pp. 5526 - 5534
• Main Authors: Banday, Khalid Muzaffar, Pasikanti, Kishore Kumar, Chan, Eric Chun Yong, Singla, Rupak, Rao, Kanury Venkata Subba, Chauhan, Virander Singh, Nanda, Ranjan Kumar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 15.07.2011
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Analytical chemistry; Bacterial diseases; Biological and medical sciences; Chemistry; Chromatographic methods and physical methods associated with chromatography; Exact sciences and technology; Female; Gas chromatographic methods; Gas chromatography; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Lung cancer; Male; Mass spectrometry; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Mycobacterium; Organic compounds; Reproducibility of Results; Spectrometric and optical methods; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - diagnosis; Tuberculosis - urine; Tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial infections; Urine; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Volatile Organic Compounds - urine; Xylene; Young Adult; Urine; Lung disease; Volatile organic compound; Mycobacterial infection; Acetate; Marker; Method; Pentanols; Infection; Characterization; Array; Gas chromatography; Molecules; Tuberculosis; Xylene; Bacteriosis; Headspace; Diagnosis; Mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 0003-2700; 1520-6882; 1520-6882
• DOI: 10.1021/ac200265g

Development of noninvasive methods for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis, with the potential to be administered in field situations, remains as an unmet challenge. A wide array of molecules are present in urine and reflect the pathophysiological condition of a subject. With infection, an alteration in the molecular constituents is anticipated, characterization of which may form a basis for TB diagnosis. In the present study volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human urine derived from TB patients and healthy controls were identified and quantified using headspace gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). We found significant (p < 0.05) increase in the abundance of o-xylene (6.37) and isopropyl acetate (2.07) and decreased level of 3-pentanol (0.59), dimethylstyrene (0.37), and cymol (0.42) in TB patients compared to controls. These markers could discriminate TB from healthy controls and related diseases like lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. This study suggests a possibility of using urinary VOCs for the diagnosis of human TB.