Have a funny taste in your mouth? Are you turning people away with bad breath? What seems like poor hygiene actually could be signs of cancer, according to researchers in England who are launching the first breathalyzer test to detect disease.
The Cancer Research UK Cambridge Center announced Tuesday the open enrollment for the first human trials for its Breath Biopsy Technology, which detects “volatile organic compounds” that can be an early sign of certain cancers.
“Through this clinical trial we hope to find signatures in breath needed to detect cancers earlier — it’s the crucial next step in developing this technology,” Rebecca Fitzgerald, lead investigator of the study, said in a press release.
Breath samples will be collected from 1,500 people in the study.
The smell of people’s breath already has been used to detect diabetes (fruity or rotten apples), kidney failure (ammonia or urine) and liver disease (garlic or rotten eggs), according to the National Institutes of Health.
The technology to be used in the cancer trial, called Owlstone Medical’s Breath Biopsy, “is the first to test across multiple cancer types,” Ms. Fitzgerald said, “paving the way for a universal breath test.”
The researchers will start by collecting information related to esophageal and stomach cancers before expanding to prostate, kidney, bladder, liver and pancreatic cancers.
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
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