Exhaled breath condensate: metabolomics

The metabolomic approach is defined as the analysis and interpretation of the global metabolic data expressing the response of living systems to genetic modification, pathophysiological stimuli and environmental influences. Metabolomics is a comprehensive approach, which enables the characterisation of the “metabolic fingerprint” of a sample. This approach promises to enable the detection of states of disease, the stratification of patients based on biochemical profiles and the monitoring of disease progression. Metabolomic analysis may also be able to orient the choice of therapy, identify responders and predict toxicity, paving the way to a customised therapy. In the field of respiratory medicine, a promising application of metabolomics is in the analysis of exhaled breath condensate, a biofluid collected noninvasively which reflects the composition of airway lining fluid. In patients with respiratory disease, metabolomic analysis of exhaled breath condensate might have a role in the characterisation of diseases subphenotypes and in the prediction of response to specific treatments.