Breathprinting based diagnosis, selected case study: U-biopred project

To obtain a better understanding of the complex clinical conditions and disease mechanisms of severe asthma, the Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Disease Outcomes (U-BIOPRED) consortium was initiated. By generating multi-molecular patient profiles and revealing distinct phenotypes, the consortium aims for more accurate prediction of therapeutic efficacy, and identification of novel targets and mechanistic pathways in both adult and pediatric patients. Noninvasive metabolomics of exhaled air (breathomics) through gas-sensor driven electronic nose (eNose) technology and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were two of the many applied omics approaches during this project. Challenging study aspects such as the incorporation of multiple eNose devices and a pan-European multicenter setting led to the establishment of the U-BIOPRED eNose platform, and the development of new sampling and storage strategies of exhaled breath samples. Based on a description of adapted technologies, and by virtue of a proof of concept analysis, this chapter provides a first glimpse into the outcomes of the U-BIOPRED eNose and GC-TOF-MS datasets, combined with information about new insights and future directions for the field of breathomics.