- WEDNESDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) — Researchers have
identified an “odor profile” for skin cancer, with an eye toward
developing a fast, simple and noninvasive test to diagnose the most common
form of skin cancer in the United States.

“We found that the odor profile coming from the skin of skin cancer
patients was markedly different than that coming from healthy skin,” noted
study author Michelle Gallagher, who conducted her research while a
postdoctoral fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in
Philadelphia.

“So, we think that this kind of biomarker could be used in a rapid and
noninvasive way to detect skin cancer,” she said. “And this would be
novel, because now the only way to do so is with a visual exam and a
biopsy, which is, of course, invasive.”

Gallagher presented the findings Wednesday at the American Chemical
Society National Meeting & Exposition in Philadelphia.

Gallagher said that the specific chemical analysis she and her team
used to explore odor profiling for skin cancer had not previously been
attempted.

She noted, however, that other research teams have conducted work with
dogs trained to detect skin cancers through smell.

Odor profiling has also been tested in the past to screen for other
types of cancer. For example, the Cleveland Clinic announced in February
that their investigators had successfully used an inexpensive breath
sensor that detected lung cancer accurately in 75 percent of cases.

In all the research, scientists were able to differentiate healthy odor
profiles from cancerous ones by picking up on the unique smells generated
by the presence of differing amounts of naturally occurring chemicals
known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in healthy versus diseased
tissue.

In the current work, the authors first sampled the air above back and
forearm areas among 25 healthy men and women between the ages of 19 and
80. Then, they tested the air above tumor sites in 11 basal cell carcinoma
patients, as well as above the disease-free skin of 11 healthy
volunteers.

The sampling revealed that cancerous tissue and healthy tissue
contained different VOC “recipes,” exuding different smells.

While skin cancer tissue did not produce any new VOCs, the diseased
area had more of some chemicals and less of others.

The team hopes to develop an odor profile for each form of skin cancer,
after which an attempt would be made to link the profiles to nano-sensor
technology to fashion a kind of “electronic nose.” The authors envision
the resulting device as a kind of diagnostic wand, designed to sweep
across the surface of the skin and detect cancer.

“This work is preliminary,” said Gallagher. “But I think within a few
years, it's reasonable to say that this could end up being a diagnostic
tool that would be a routine thing one could do in a doctor's office. It's
a real possibility.”

However, Dr. Jean-Claude Bystryn, former head of the melanoma program
and vaccine clinic at New York University Medical Center, issued a word of
caution.

“In terms of this replacing the standard method we have of diagnosing
skin cancer, which is basically to look at a specimen under the
microscope, it's hard to imagine this would do it completely,” he said.
“Because when you're dealing with cancer, the margin for error is really
small. You don't want to miss something that may be a cancer that then
doesn't get treated. And you don't want to treat someone for cancer if
they actually have something else. So, it's really a very novel and
interesting idea but one which I think really needs to be further
researched and carefully confirmed.”

More information

For details on skin cancer diagnosis, visit the American Cancer
Society.