Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto at the 2020 Breath Biopsy Conference

The 2021 Breath Biopsy Conference is scheduled for 12th & 13th October. Click the button to express interest in the next Breath Biopsy Conference:

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Talk Abstract:
According to the world health organization, asthma and COPD represent the most common chronic respiratory diseases, with respectively 235 and 65 million of people concerned worldwide. These diseases are not curable. Nevertheless, various forms of treatment that help to dilate major air passages and improve shortness of breath can help to increase the quality of life for patients. However, disease phenotyping relies on invasive sputum analysis. In addition, neutrophilic and eosinophilic inflammation phenotypes have similar symptoms but requires different treatment approaches. To improve monitoring of patients, they have to be better phenotyped. It would allow quick adjustment of the treatment.

In this context, we have been developing a breath-based phenotyping approach using thermal desorption and two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (TD-GC×GC-HRTOFMS). This method allows patient phenotyping with similar performances than the routine clinical practice (Accuracy 72%, AUROC 0.72). Moreover, the combination of breath with other methods, such as FeNO and blood cell count, significantly increases the model performance (Accuracy 76%, AUROC 87%).

Our current efforts are focused on facilitating the translation of the method to the clinic and to better understand the origin of the markers used for the classification. To facilitate such translation, we have been working on direct mass spectrometry approach using full scan SIFT-MS. This method allows to phenotype patients with an accuracy around 75% in less than three minutes.

This work is included in the continuous effort around breath research to develop clinical implementation.

Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto¹, Delphine Zanella¹, Florence Schleich², Joeri Vercammen³, Thibaut Dejong¹, Monique Henket², Renaud Louis², Jean-François Focant¹
1. Organic and Biological Analytical Chemistry Group, MolSys, University of Liège, Belgium
2. Respiratory Medicine, GIGA I3, CHU Sart-Tilman, University of Liège, Belgium
3. ISX and Interscience, Breda, The Netherlands

Speaker Biography:
Pierre-Hugues Stefanuto is a Senior Scientist and lecturer at Liège University in Belgium. His main research interest is the development of analytical solutions based on chromatography and mass spectrometry technology. He is interested in the development of statistical models for method optimization and data handling. He is working on the development of multimodal solutions of untargeted screening of small molecules. Dr Stefanuto’s driving research goal is the development of multi-omics screening to tackle biomedical challenges at the molecular level.

The 2021 Breath Biopsy Conference is scheduled for 12th & 13th October. Click the button to express interest in the next Breath Biopsy Conference:

Express Interest