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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Real-time Breath Analysis by Using Secondary Nanoelectrospray Ionization Coupled to High Resolution Mass Spectrometry
Published on: March 9, 2018
Surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization (SELDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry to identify patients with
Russell P Bowler1, Michael E Canham, Misoo C Ellison
1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, 1400 Jackson Street, Room 729b Denver, Colorado 80206, USA. BowlerR@njc.org
Abstract:
There are currently no blood tests to identify the majority of smokers at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We used plasma protein profiles from surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization (SELDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry to identify a panel of protein biomarkers that can distinguish patients with COPD from closely matched controls. Plasma was obtained from 30 COPD subjects and 30 controls matched for age, sex, and smoking history. Plasma protein profiles were generated using Cu2+-immobilized metal affinity capture (IMAC) and strong anion exchanger (Q10) protein chips. Classification and regression tree (CART) analysis identified a panel of 5 biomarkers using the IMAC protein chip that could distinguish COPD patients from controls with sensitivity and specificity of 91.67% and 88.33%, respectively. The 10-fold cross-validation yielded 81.67% sensitivity and 81.67% specificity. This demonstrates the feasibility of using SELDI as a diagnostic test for COPD; however, larger cohorts will be needed to validate these biomarkers and determine their predictive value longitudinally.
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