Detection of smell print differences between nonmalignant and malignant prostate cells with an electronic nose

To determine whether an electronic nose can differentiate cultured nonmalignant and malignant prostatic cells from each other and whether the smell print is secreted to the surrounding medium.

Prostatic nonmalignant (EP-156T and controls) and malignant (LNCaP) cell lines, as well as conditioned and unconditioned media, were collected. The smell prints of the samples were analyzed by a ChemPro(®) 100 electronic nose device. The data were normalized and dimension reduction was conducted. The samples were classified and misclassification rates were calculated.

The electronic nose differentiated the nonmalignant and malignant cell lines from each other, achieving misclassification rates of 2.9-3.6%. Cells did not differ from the conditioned medium but differed from the unconditioned medium (misclassification rates: 0.0-25.6%).

Malignant and nonmalignant prostatic cell lines have distinct smell prints. Prostatic cancer cells seem to modify the smell print of their medium.