Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41020587›Full record

ArticleCancer medicine2025

Explorative Detection of Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) in Exhaled Breath of Patients With Breast Cancer.

Francesco Segrado, Alessio Polymeropoulos, Michela Bianchi, Chiara Veronese, Roberto Agresti, Gianfranco Scaperrotta, Roberto Boffi, Rosalba Miceli, Rosaria Orlandi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cancer medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Francesco SegradoNutrition Research and Metabolomics Unit, Department of Experimental Oncology, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1270-4609
Alessio PolymeropoulosBiostatistics for Clinical Research, Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Michela BianchiNutrition Research and Metabolomics Unit, Department of Experimental Oncology, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-9435
Chiara VeronesePulmonology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Roberto AgrestiIntegrated Breast Surgery, Department of Surgical Oncology, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Gianfranco ScaperrottaBreast Imaging, Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Roberto BoffiPulmonology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Rosalba MiceliBiostatistics for Clinical Research, Department of Epidemiology and Data Science, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Rosaria OrlandiNutrition Research and Metabolomics Unit, Department of Experimental Oncology, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori di Milano, Milan, Italy.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0533-9041

Funding

Ministero della Salute RF 2016-02361759
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNitric oxide (NO), a gaseous messenger with pleiotropic functions, plays a role in cancer, including breast cancer (BC). Considering the high permeability and leakiness of NO across tissues and the increased levels of NO recently reported in exhaled breath and blood of patients with lung cancer, we explored exhaled NO levels in patients with BC in a future perspective of non-invasive cancer detection. PATIENTS AND

methodsFractional exhaled NO (FeNO) levels were detected in the breath of 192 women with BC and malignancy-free controls employing a widely used point-of-care (POC)-based system previously developed for asthma monitoring.

resultsFeNO levels were lower in BC patients compared to controls, with the lowest levels in women with HER2-expressing tumors. In univariate and multivariate analyses and after adjustment for age, smoking, and asthma, this difference was not significant. The effects of smoking were not statistically significant, whereas asthmatic subjects had significantly higher levels of FeNO (p = 0.006). Neither menopause nor BMI had a significant impact on FeNO levels.

conclusionOur explorative work indicates that FeNO levels are heterogeneously detected in the breath of BC patients in the absence of confounding effects and are associated with the clinical characteristics of the disease. More sensitive detection of exhaled NO and larger cohorts enriched with ER negative BC are needed to further explore the potential of NO in non-invasive detection of BC, either alone or in conjunction with other BC-related volatile markers, and extending the NO measurement to blood or tissues.

Indexed as

Breast NeoplasmsFractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide TestingNitric OxideAdultAgedBiomarkers, TumorBreath TestsCase-Control StudiesExhalationFemaleHumansMiddle AgedBiomarkers, TumorNitric Oxidebreast neoplasmsbreath testsearly detection of cancerfractional exhaled nitric oxide testingnitric oxide

Identifiers

PMID41020587
PMCPMC12477705

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.