Metabolomics Diagnosis of COVID-19 from Exhaled Breath Condensate
Elettra Barberis, Elia Amede, Shahzaib Khoso, Luigi Mario Castello, Pier Paolo Sainaghi, Mattia Bellan, Piero Emilio Balbo, Giuseppe Patti, Diego Brustia, Mara Giordano, Roberta Rolla, Annalisa Chiocchetti, Giorgia Romani, Marcello Manfredi, Rosanna Vaschetto
Abstract
Infection from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can lead to severe respiratory tract damage and acute lung injury. Therefore, it is crucial to study breath-associated biofluids not only to investigate the breath's biochemical changes caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also to discover potential biomarkers for the development of new diagnostic tools. In the present study, we performed an untargeted metabolomics approach using a bidimensional gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GCxGC-TOFMS) on exhaled breath condensate (EBC) from COVID-19 patients and negative healthy subjects to identify new potential biomarkers for the noninvasive diagnosis and monitoring of the COVID-19 disease. The EBC analysis was further performed in patients with acute or acute-on-chronic cardiopulmonary edema (CPE) to assess the reliability of the identified biomarkers. Our findings demonstrated that an abundance of EBC fatty acids can be used to discriminate COVID-19 patients and that they may have a protective effect, thus suggesting their potential use as a preventive strategy against the infection.