The promise of breath testing
At Theta, our journey into breath diagnostics is a core part of who we are and what we stand for. Breath diagnostics offers a unique opportunity to provide rapid, non-invasive and immediate results, making it suitable for a wide range of medical applications, from infectious diseases and various cancers to autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.
Tackling the lung cancer screening crisis
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Despite United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations for low-dose CT (LDCT) screening, screening rates remain critically low. Early detection significantly improves survival, but barriers such as high false-positive rates, limited accessibility and the high cost of CT scans prevent widespread uptake.
In Europe, there is a reluctance to implement large-scale CT-based screening due to similar concerns about false-positive results. Our breath test offers an alternative: a rapid, highly accurate risk assessment that can be performed in a general practitioner's office or by a lung specialist. This approach could significantly reduce the need for expensive, inaccessible and uncomfortable CT scans.
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However, we are aware of most of the challenges with this high aspiration. While cancer screening is our big North Star, we see many 'lower hanging' fruits on the way to this goal, which include companion diagnostics and clinical research including disease phenotyping. These are our main focus areas for the moment.
Overcoming the challenges of breath testing
Breath testing has long held promise, but translating this potential from the laboratory to practical, clinical applications has been fraught with challenges. Factors such as environmental contamination, the impact of comorbidities, patient positioning during testing and the confounding effects of smoking and oxidative stress all need to be carefully managed. Also, breath is incredibly noisy from a data perspective given all the turbulences, moisture, and more than a thousand molecules. After all, we need to detect markers in the particle-per-billion range.
Our team at Theta has tackled these challenges head on. Through our collaboration with the University of Texas at Dallas, we have developed a device that utilises room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) and a simple sample collection method. This innovation eliminates the need for sophisticated laboratory equipment, making it practical for real-world clinical use.
Advanced machine learning plays a critical role in our solution, managing signal-to-noise ratios and interpreting complex non-linear interactions that traditional methods often miss. This ensures the accuracy and reliability of our breath diagnostics, paving the way for wider adoption in clinical settings. However, we do not treat artificial intelligence as a magic black box. Instead, following uor commitment to first principles, we only rely on biomarkers where the biochemical pathways are clearly understood.
Breakthrough results and future directions
We recently completed a study of around 70 patients comparing our breath test device with GC-MS and lung biopsies. The results were remarkably positive and exceeded our expectations. We are currently preparing these results for publication and look forward to sharing more with you soon.
Currently, our device can analyse eight biomarkers simultaneously and we are continuously developing sensors for a variety of markers. We are expanding our research partnerships globally to further refine and validate our approach. Our goal is to integrate breath testing into routine medical practice, not just as a proof of concept, but as a widely accessible tool that transforms patient care.
By focusing on lung cancer screening, we aim to build a solid foundation for expanding breath diagnostics into other areas, such as monitoring response to therapy, tracking side effects and monitoring remission. Our journey is far from over and we are committed to pushing the boundaries of what breath diagnostics can achieve.
Let's talk about olfaction
At Theta, we believe in the power of interdisciplinary innovation and the potential of respiratory diagnostics to revolutionise healthcare. However, machine olfaction has potential far beyond healthcare. If you are a researcher interested in VOC-based machine olfaction, please connect with us so that we jointly continue to break new ground in advanced machine olfaction.