Exhaled Breath Condensate Study for Biomarkers Discovery

ABSTRACT

Biomarkers seem to play an important role in understanding various diseases’ nature, course and management, including respiratory ones. Yet, discovering verifiable and validated ones, that are useful in pulmonology, is challenging and constant. A special body specimen that has been characterized as a matrix of biomarkers, is the exhaled breath condensate (EBC). It is a fluid resulting from freezing the exhaled air. Water is its main constituent. The rest is a rich mix of water-soluble volatile compounds and aerosol droplets of airway lining fluid. The droplets carry non-volatile organic compounds. Their concentration is very small and the techniques applied to measure it are very accurate and sensitive. The content of the exhaled breath condensate reflects important processes taking place in the lungs, such as inflammation and oxidative stress, which are the basis of respiratory diseases’ pathophysiology. It seems that it has a role in diagnosis, monitoring, stratification and therapy of respiratory diseases, including COVID19. This paper presents information on exhaled breath condensate and highlights its importance as a potential source of biomarkers. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.