Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) from cats, healthy or with allergic asthma, was collected gently by Prof. Carol Reinero’s group. Despite the diluteness and variability of the molecular contents, we were able to separate the healthy from sick cats with 94% accuracy using statistical analysis of NMR spectra of the EBC (Fulcher et al., 2016, PLoS One). This required optimal choices of pre-processing and supervised multivariate statistics. We also noted a few potential biomarkers of feline allergic asthma in the EBC. (This was supported by Morris Animal Fdn. D14FE-507).

We have been exploring similar strategies for asthma in humans in collaboration with Dr. Mario Castro (Pulmonology & Critical Care at Washington University). (This was supported by Wash. U-Mizzou ICTS CTRF106, with support from NIH/NCATS UL1TR002345).

Publication cited:

Fulcher YG, Fotso M, Chang CH, Rindt H, Reinero CR, Van Doren SR. Noninvasive Recognition and Biomarkers of Early Allergic Asthma in Cats Using Multivariate Statistical Analysis of NMR Spectra of Exhaled Breath Condensate. PLoS One.2016;11(10):e0164394    https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164394