Investigating the mechanistic pathways of augmented volatile organic compounds related to the oesophagogastric cancer microbiome

食管癌（食道癌和胃癌）是英格兰和威尔士第五大常见癌症，每年诊断出16，000例新病例。目前，每100名被诊断患有这种类型癌症的患者中只有15人活了5年以上。当食管胃癌被发现时，它通常处于晚期。这是因为与早期疾病相关的症状通常是模糊的，并且对于一些良性（非癌症）疾病是常见的。全科医生不可能将所有出现此类症状的患者送去进行内窥镜检查，这是一种“相机测试”，以确认癌症的诊断，因为这种测试对患者来说既昂贵又不舒服。因此，开发新的可接受的、准确的和负担得起的检测方法来帮助早期发现食管胃癌是很重要的。为了解决这个问题，我们正在开发一种用于食管胃癌的非侵入性呼气测试。该测试是基于检测呼出气体中的小分子，称为挥发性有机化合物（VOC）。我们的研究表明，食管胃癌患者胃内的细菌至少部分地导致了VOC的产生增加。本研究旨在探讨胃内细菌在食管胃癌VOC产生中的作用。我们将培养从癌症患者身上收集的细菌，并使用质谱法测量它们产生的VOC。我们将进行进一步的实验，探索哪些因素会影响细菌产生VOC，包括细菌和癌细胞共同生长的影响。以这种方式研究VOC的产生将有助于我们了解它们是如何产生的。这项研究很重要，因为它可以解释潜在的创新，非侵入性和成本效益的呼吸测试背后的基本科学，以检测有食管胃癌风险的患者。早期诊断和治疗将提高生存率，带来全球经济和社会效益。

Oesophagogastric cancer (cancer of the food pipe and stomach) is the fifth most common cancer in England and Wales with 16,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Currently only 15 out of every 100 patients diagnosed with this type of cancer live beyond 5 years. When oesophagogastric cancer is detected it is often in an advanced late stage. This is because symptoms associated with early disease are typically vague and common to a number of benign (non-cancer). It is not possible for GPs to send all patients who present with such symptoms for endoscopy, a 'camera test' to confirm the diagnosis of cancer, as this test is expensive and uncomfortable for patients. It is therefore important to develop new acceptable, accurate and affordable tests to help detect oesophagogastric cancer at an early stage.To address this problem, we are developing a non-invasive breath test for oesophagogastric cancer. The test is based on the detection of small molecules in exhaled breath called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Our research has suggested that bacteria within the stomach of patients with oesophagogastric cancer are at least partly responsible for increased production of VOCs.This study intends to investigate the role of stomach bacteria in VOC production in oesophagogastric cancer. We will grow bacteria collected from cancer patients and measure their production of VOCs using mass spectrometry. We will conduct further experiments exploring what factors affect the production of VOCs from bacteria including the effects of growing bacteria and cancer cells together. Studying VOC production in this way will help us to understand how they are produced.This research is important because it can explain the underlying science behind a potentially innovative, non-invasive and cost-effective breath test to detect patients at risk of oesophagogastric cancer. Early diagnosis and treatment will lead to improved survival rates with global economic and societal benefits.