Early Liver Disease Breath Detection

The diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) still requires liver biopsy, an invasive procedure that can lead to complications. Impaired hepatic function, associated with chronic liver diseases, changes the metabolic pathways responsible for the biotransformation of certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exhaled in breath. Consequently, abundance of these VOCs on breath changes in the presence of chronic liver diseases and could be used as a non-invasive diagnostic tool. To date, identified VOCs with classification performance for chronic liver diseases are of exogenous origin and their abundance on breath is not only related to liver malfunction, but also to the extent of the everyday exposure to these compounds, mainly through dietary intake. To overcome this limitation, we established the exogenous volatile organic compound (EVOC) approach, based on the administration of a defined dose of a compound followed by its measurement on breath at different timepoints. We tested several compounds in healthy subjects and found that their levels on breath peak ~10 minutes after administration, followed by a progressive reduction. NASH-associated alterations of gene expression [1], and/or impaired hepatic function is expected to alter the reduction of administered compound on breath allowing for classification between NASH subjects and healthy controls. We plan to administer a cocktail of EVOCs made of limonene, benzyl alcohol, 2- pentanone, 2-butanol, and nonanal, compounds safe for human consumption, approved, and widely used in the European Union as food flavoring agents. The amounts we will administer are well below thresholds found to cause side effects in human or animal models. The working hypothesis is that NASH-induced changes of hepatic clearance of administered food flavors alters their amounts measured in breath allowing differentiation between NASH and healthy liver conditions. We aim to conduct a cross-sectional study with the objective to identify if changes in EVOCs metabolism have a diagnostic potential for subjects with advanced fibrosis.

Subjects with FibroScan-confirmed fibrosis are asked to fast overnight. Then they provide a baseline breath sample, followed by oral administration of the EVOCs cocktail, and sampling of additional breath samples at subsequent timepoints up to 90 minutes post ingestion

Inclusion criteria

• Able to provide written informed consent.
• >18 years old.
• Body weight > 50 kg.
• Alcohol consumption - does not drink to excess (>30 g/day in men, >20 g/day in women).
• Fibroscan kilopascal (kPa) between 8.5 and 13.5 within 6 months and/or a liver biopsy within the last 3 years showing a fibrosis activity score ≥ F2 and a NAS score > 4 with a diagnosis of non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)

Exclusion criteria

• (Anticipated) inability to complete the breath sampling procedure due to e.g. inability to maintain adequate ventilation unaided or claustrophobia / Inability to comply with the study procedures in the opinion of the investigator.
• Participant has cirrhosis.
• Participant has current hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or currently being treated for HCC. Those previously with/treated for and now clear of HCC can be recruited.
• Participant's cause of liver disease is known to be one of alcohol abuse, hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, medications, haemochromatosis, alpha1 antitrypsin deficiency, Wilson disease, biliary problems.
• Presence of current common cold or any other infectious disease including any recent symptoms of Covid-19.
• Participant is known to be pregnant or breast feeding.
• Participant with a diagnosis of chronic, active gastritis
• Participant is affected by asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and/or airway hyperactivity.
• Known intolerances and/or allergies (*) to any food containing tested compounds. For limonene, citrus fruits, and fruit juices. For benzyl alcohol, apricots, cranberries, and cocoa. For 2-pentanone cheddar cheese, ripe bananas, and defatted soybean flour. For 2-butanol cheddar cheese and yogurt. For nonanal, apple, avocado, black currants, cooked beef, cucumber, fish, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, orange, and peach.