Volatile organic compound and proteomics data from the same exhaled breath condensate sample

Obtaining multiple sample types from the same exhaled breath condensate (EBC) sample can reduce the number of samples needed for diagnostics purposes, allowing for sampling to be completed quicker and making it even easier to collect breath from patients. In this study, we performed analysis for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and proteins from the same EBC sample. Pooled EBC samples were split into two groups: three samples that utilized immersion thin film-solid phase microextraction (TF-SPME) sampling for VOC analysis and three samples that did not undergo TF-SPME sampling (non-TF-SPME). All six EBC samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for proteomics analysis. VOCs were analyzed via two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC x GC-MS). One hundred and eighty-four VOCs were found to be more abundant in EBC samples compared to blank or controls. There was no significant difference in the number of proteins detected in the TF-SPME samples compared to the non-TF-SPME samples and 144 of the 206 total unique proteins detected were found in both sample groups. These results indicate that TF-SPME sampling does not negatively affect the number of proteins that can be detected in EBC. This work is a step towards linking VOC and protein data together to obtain multi-omics breath data from a single breath sample. EBC samples were collected as part of a vaccination clinical trial (NCT05346302).