Increased day-to-day fluctuations in exhaled breath profiles after a rhinovirus challenge in asthma

Early detection/prediction of flare-ups in asthma, commonly triggered by viruses, would enable timely treatment. Previous studies on exhaled breath analysis by electronic nose (eNose) technology could discriminate between stable and unstable episodes of asthma, using single/few time-points. To investigate its monitoring properties during these episodes, we examined day-to-day fluctuations in exhaled breath profiles, before and after a rhinovirus-16 (RV16) challenge, in healthy and asthmatic adults.

In this proof-of-concept study, 12 atopic asthmatic and 12 non-atopic healthy adults were prospectively followed thrice weekly, 60 days before, and 30 days after a RV16 challenge. Exhaled breath profiles were detected using an eNose, consisting of 7 different sensors. Per sensor, individual means were calculated using pre-challenge visits. Absolute deviations (|%|) from this baseline were derived for all visits. Within-group comparisons were tested with Mann-Whitney U tests and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Finally, Spearman's correlations between the total change in eNose deviations and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), cold-like symptoms, and pro-inflammatory cytokines were examined.

Both groups had significantly increased eNose fluctuations post-challenge, which in asthma started 1 day post-challenge, before the onset of symptoms. Discrimination between pre- and post-challenge reached an area under the ROC curve of 0.82 (95% CI = 0.65-0.99) in healthy and 0.97 (95% CI = 0.91-1.00) in asthmatic adults. The total change in eNose deviations moderately correlated with IL-8 and TNFα (ρ ≈ .50-0.60) in asthmatics.

Electronic nose fluctuations rapidly increase after a RV16 challenge, with distinct differences between healthy and asthmatic adults, suggesting that this technology could be useful in monitoring virus-driven unstable episodes in asthma.