呼吸分析による疾患監視
Hello everyone, SCIENSPOT is a podcast that shines a spotlight on the latest scientific
technology from Japan. Your host is REN from SCIEN-TALK. Today, we look at diagnostic method
from a Japanese collaboration led by Dr. Yuda Matsuoka and Dr. Yuki Sugiura of Kyoto University
Graduate School of Medicine. They have demonstrated the potential to monitor the progression of
diseases like liver illness simply by analyzing a patient's breath. This could replace highly
invasive procedures that are currently necessary. When we exhale, our breath contains over 1,000
types of volatile organic compounds, VOCs. These tiny molecules carry a wealth of information
about our body's metabolism, making VOC analysis a powerful tool for non-invasive
diagnosis. A key source of these VOCs is lipid peroxidation. Specifically, polyunsaturated
fatty acids in our cell membranes get oxidized by active oxygen and iron. This oxidation
produces volatile oxidized lipids, VOLs, which travel through the bloodstream and are eventually
expelled in our breath. When this oxidation accelerates, it triggers a specialized form
of cell death called ferritosis. Ferritosis is an iron-dependent cell death and is implicated
in various diseases, including cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, and especially liver
disease. This challenge has always been monitoring this process in real-time in humans. Until
now, doctors needed to take an invasive tissue sample, like a liver biopsy, to directly investigate
lipid oxidation, a major hurdle for both research and patient care. The research team set out
to identify the specific volatile molecules released during ferritosis. They utilized
a newly developed, highly sensitive analysis technique called oxidative volatile mix,
which comprehensively analyzes volatile molecules using mass spectrometry. They successfully
肝炎に関する新たな発見
identified two molecules, one octane-3-ol and the other 2-pentyl-furan, produced by
iron-derived lipid oxidation during ferritosis. Interestingly, these molecules are recognized
as the primary source of the unique metabolic smell of iron, the scent you notice when you
touch metal or bleed. The team confirmed that these molecules increase as ferritosis progresses.
These findings were confirmed in mass models of acute endocrinic liver disease, where the
molecule increases in both the liver and the exhaled breath. Crucially, they applied this
finding to humans. They analyzed the breath of healthy individuals, patients with metabolic
dysfunction associated with steatotypic liver disease, and patients with advanced
sclerosis. Both 1-octane-3-ol and 2-pentyl-furan were found in higher quantities in the patient's
breath. The concentration of 2-pentyl-furan in the breath showed a strong correlation
with blood test values related to liver function and fibrosis. Furthermore,
it matched the amount of oxidative lipids measured through invasive liver biopsy.
This scientifically demonstrates that these breath molecules accurately reflect oxidative stress
within the liver. Think of ferritosis as a chemical fire occurring inside your cells,
driven by iron. This internal fire related a very specific type of smoke. The iron smell
instead of requiring a highly invasive inspection to check the damage. This new technique allows us
to simply sample the smoke in your breath. The intensity of this iron smell tells doctors
exactly how big the internal fire is and how advanced the disease is.
This study established a novel and reliable non-invasive breast biomarker technology
for monitoring ferritosis in the body. Because this method is simple and non-invasive,
呼吸と病気の関連
it opens the door to early detection, continuous monitoring, and effective screening for
ferritosis-related diseases globally. This research is a major step toward making personalized,
low-burden diagnostics a reality. That's all for today's SciencePod.
This podcast is broadcast in both Japanese and English. I'd love for you to listen to the
podcast and post your thoughts with the hashtag SciencePod. Thank you for listening and see you
next time.
