Robust detection of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus acute lung infections by secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) breathprinting: from initial infection to clearance

J Breath Res. 2013 Sep;7(3):037106. doi: 10.1088/1752-7155/7/3/037106. Epub 2013 Jul 18.

Abstract

Before breath-based diagnostics for lung infections can be implemented in the clinic, it is necessary to understand how the breath volatiles change during the course of infection, and ideally, to identify a core set of breath markers that can be used to diagnose the pathogen at any point during the infection. In the study presented here, we use secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) to characterize the breathprint of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus lung infections in a murine model over a period of 120 h, with a total of 86 mice in the study. Using partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to evaluate the time-course data, we were able to show that SESI-MS breathprinting can be used to robustly classify acute P. aeruginosa and S. aureus mouse lung infections at any time during the 120 h infection/clearance process. The variable importance plot from PLS indicates that multiple peaks from the SESI-MS breathprints are required for discriminating the bacterial infections. Therefore, by utilizing the entire breathprint rather than single biomarkers, infectious agents can be diagnosed by SESI-MS independent of when during the infection breath is tested.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomarkers / analysis*
  • Breath Tests / methods
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Pseudomonas Infections / diagnosis*
  • Pseudomonas Infections / metabolism
  • Pseudomonas Infections / microbiology
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / isolation & purification*
  • Respiratory Tract Infections / diagnosis*
  • Respiratory Tract Infections / metabolism
  • Respiratory Tract Infections / microbiology
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / methods*
  • Staphylococcal Infections / diagnosis*
  • Staphylococcal Infections / metabolism
  • Staphylococcal Infections / microbiology
  • Staphylococcus aureus / isolation & purification*

Substances

  • Biomarkers