Human Skin Cells Odor Can Be Used to Identify Melanoma

Researchers from Monell Center and collaborating institutions have found that odors from human skin cells can help identify melanoma, the deadliest form of cancer.

In a ground breaking discovery, researchers from Monell Center and collaborating institutions have found that odors from human skin cells can help identify melanoma, the deadliest form of cancer. Apart from this, researchers also found that a nanotechnology-based sensor can help tell melanoma cells apart from normal skin cells. These two discoveries together can greatly help in the early detection of human skin cancer of this type.

Melanoma cells are known to affect melanocytes, which are responsible for giving skin its color by producing dark pigments. Melanoma skin cancer is known to be the cause of 75 percent of deaths due to skin cancer. The chances of survival from this fatal disease depend on how early it is detected. Currently the only method of detection is through skin examination and its accuracy depends on individual self-examination and clinical skill.

The study was based on the fact that the human skin produces a number of airborne chemical molecules known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, many of which are odorous. Researchers used various techniques to tell apart VOCs from melanoma cells at three stages of the disease as well as from normal melanocytes. They found that melanoma cells had a distinctive odor that makes it easier to differentiate from VOCs of normal melanocytes.

"This study demonstrates the usefulness of examining VOCs from diseases for rapid and noninvasive diagnostic purposes," said George Preti, PhD, an organic chemist at Monell who is one of the paper's senior authors in a press release. "The methodology should also allow us to differentiate stages of the disease process."

The study will be published in the Journal of Chromatography B.

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