Researches discover scent of skin cancer

Issue date: 26.08.08

According to new research from the Monell Center, odors from skin can be used to identify basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer. The findings, presented at the 236th meeting of the American Chemical Society, may open doors to development of new methods to detect basal cell carcinoma and other forms of skin cancer. The researchers sampled air above basal cell tumours and found a different profile of chemical compounds compared to skin located at the same sites in healthy control subjects.

"Our findings may someday allow doctors to screen for and diagnose skin cancers at very early stages," said Michelle Gallagher, PhD.

Human skin produces numerous airborne chemical molecules known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, many of which are odorous. In the study presented at the ACS, the researchers obtained VOC profiles from basal cell carcinoma sites in 11 patients and compared them to profiles from similar skin sites in 11 healthy controls.

Both profiles contained the same array of chemicals; the difference involved the amounts of specific chemicals – some were increased and others decreased in samples from basal cell carcinoma sites.

The researchers plan to characterise skin odour profiles associated with other forms of skin cancer, including squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.

To identify changes related to cancer, the researchers first needed to identify a normative profile for VOCs and to determine whether this profile varies as a function of age, gender or body site.

The Monell Chemical Senses Center