{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T00:27:02Z","timestamp":1780532822809,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,17]],"date-time":"2021-01-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1610841600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007109","name":"University of Ferrara","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FAR 2016 - 2020; FIR 2016"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FAR 2016 - 2020; FIR 2016"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007109","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"SCENT S.r.l.","award":["Private Funding"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Private Funding"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>User-friendly, low-cost equipment for preventive screening of severe or deadly pathologies are one of the most sought devices by the National Health Services, as they allow early disease detection and treatment, often avoiding its degeneration. In recent years more and more research groups are developing devices aimed at these goals employing gas sensors. Here, nanostructured chemoresistive metal oxide (MOX) sensors were employed in a patented prototype aimed to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs), exhaled by blood samples collected from patients affected by colorectal cancer and from healthy subjects as a control. Four sensors, carefully selected after many years of laboratory tests on biological samples (cultured cells, human stools, human biopsies, etc.), were based here on various percentages of tin, tungsten, titanium, niobium, tantalum and vanadium oxides. Sensor voltage responses were statistically analyzed also with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, that allowed the identification of the cut-off discriminating between healthy and tumor affected subjects for each sensor, leading to an estimate of sensitivity and specificity parameters. ROC analysis demonstrated that sensors employing tin and titanium oxides decorated with gold nanoparticles gave sensitivities up to 80% yet with a specificity of 70%.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules26020466","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,19]],"date-time":"2021-01-19T11:39:55Z","timestamp":1611056395000},"page":"466","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Tin, Titanium, Tantalum, Vanadium and Niobium Oxide Based Sensors to Detect Colorectal Cancer Exhalations in Blood Samples"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3578-0946","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michele","family":"Astolfi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy"},{"name":"SCENT S.r.l (SME company), Via Quadrifoglio 11, 44124 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giorgio","family":"Rispoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9255-3312","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gabriele","family":"Anania","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9279-4722","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Artioli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Veronica","family":"Nevoso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giulia","family":"Zonta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy"},{"name":"SCENT S.r.l (SME company), Via Quadrifoglio 11, 44124 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8362-5289","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cesare","family":"Malag\u00f9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy"},{"name":"SCENT S.r.l (SME company), Via Quadrifoglio 11, 44124 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"394","article-title":"Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries","volume":"68","author":"Bray","year":"2018","journal-title":"CA: A Cancer J. Clin."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"g2467","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.g2467","article-title":"Effect of screening sigmoidoscopy and screening colonoscopy on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies","volume":"348","author":"Brenner","year":"2014","journal-title":"BMJ"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"89","article-title":"Epidemiology of colorectal cancer: incidence, mortality, survival, and risk factors","volume":"14","author":"Rawla","year":"2019","journal-title":"Prz. Gastroenterol."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"(2019, December 22). National Cancer Institute Cancer Statistics, Available online: https:\/\/www.cancer.gov\/about-cancer\/understanding\/statistics."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1007\/s10555-016-9606-4","article-title":"Molecular evolution of colorectal cancer: from multistep carcinogenesis to the big bang","volume":"35","author":"Amaro","year":"2016","journal-title":"Cancer Metastasis Rev."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"(2020, November 24). Linee Guida AIOM 2018 Tumore al colon. Available online: https:\/\/www.aiom.it\/linee-guida-aiom-2018-tumori-del-colon\/."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"(2020, December 23). Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests. Available online: https:\/\/www.cancer.org\/cancer\/colon-rectal-cancer\/detection-diagnosis-staging\/screening-tests-used.html."},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"CD001216","article-title":"Screening for colorectal cancer using the faecal occult blood test, Hemoccult","volume":"2007","author":"Hewitson","year":"2007","journal-title":"Cochrane Database Syst. Rev."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"257","article-title":"Capsule endoscopy: a comprehensive review","volume":"53","author":"Li","year":"2007","journal-title":"Minerva Gastroenterol. Dietol."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"472","DOI":"10.4329\/wjr.v8.i5.472","article-title":"Computed tomography colonography for the practicing radiologist: A review of current recommendations on methodology and clinical indications","volume":"8","author":"Scalise","year":"2016","journal-title":"World J. Radiol."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5086","DOI":"10.3748\/wjg.v23.i28.5086","article-title":"Colorectal cancer screening: An updated review of the available options","volume":"23","author":"Noureddine","year":"2017","journal-title":"World J. Gastroenterol."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.11622\/smedj.2017004","article-title":"Colorectal cancer screening","volume":"58","author":"Chan","year":"2017","journal-title":"Singap. Med J."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3632","DOI":"10.3748\/wjg.v23.i20.3632","article-title":"Lanas, \u00c1ngel Colorectal cancer population screening programs worldwide in 2016: An update","volume":"23","author":"Navarro","year":"2017","journal-title":"World J. Gastroenterol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zonta, G., Malag\u00f9, C., Gherardi, S., Giberti, A., Pezzoli, A., De Togni, A., and Palmonari, C. (2020). Clinical Validation Results of an Innovative Non-Invasive Device for Colorectal Cancer Preventive Screening through Fecal Exhalation Analysis. Cancers, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers12061471"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e022393","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2018-022393","article-title":"Post-treatment surveillance testing of patients with colorectal cancer and the association with survival: protocol for a retrospective cohort study of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database","volume":"8","author":"Hines","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMJ Open"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"654","DOI":"10.1111\/codi.13271","article-title":"Volatile organic compounds as new biomarkers for colorectal cancer: a review","volume":"18","author":"Porcelli","year":"2016","journal-title":"Color. Dis."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"884","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2018.01.225","article-title":"Use of gas sensors and FOBT for the early detection of colorectal cancer","volume":"262","author":"Zonta","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B: Chem."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18982","DOI":"10.3390\/s141018982","article-title":"Chemoresistive Gas Sensors for the Detection of Colorectal Cancer Biomarkers","volume":"14","author":"Fabbri","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2015.04.080","article-title":"Detection of colorectal cancer biomarkers in the presence of interfering gases","volume":"218","author":"Zonta","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B: Chem."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1098","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2016.07.079","article-title":"Preventive screening of colorectal cancer with a device based on chemoresistive sensors","volume":"238","author":"Zonta","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B: Chem."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Malag\u00f9, C., Gherardi, S., Zonta, G., Landini, N., Giberti, A., Giberti, A., Fabbri, B., Anania, G., Rispoli, G., and Scagliarini, L. (2015). SCENT B1. (No. 102015000057717), Italian Patent."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Astolfi, M., Zonta, G., Landini, N., Gherardi, S., Rispoli, G., Anania, G., Benedusi, M., Guidi, V., Palmonari, C., and Secchiero, P. (2019). Chemoresistive Nanostructured Sensors for Tumor Pre-Screening. Proceedings, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/proceedings2019014029"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2018.05.102","article-title":"Neoplasms and metastasis detection in human blood exhalations with a device composed by nanostructured sensors","volume":"271","author":"Landini","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sensors Actuators B: Chem."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Astolfi, M., Rispoli, G., Anania, G., Nevoso, V., Artioli, E., Landini, N., Benedusi, M., Melloni, E., Secchiero, P., and Tisato, V. (2020). Colorectal Cancer Study with Nanostructured Sensors: Tumor Marker Screening of Patient Biopsies. Nanomaterials, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/nano10040606"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"200","DOI":"10.4161\/cbt.26723","article-title":"Blood volatile compounds as biomarkers for colorectal cancer","volume":"15","author":"Wang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cancer Biol. Ther."},{"key":"ref_26","first-page":"627","article-title":"Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Curve Analysis for Medical Diagnostic Test Evaluation","volume":"4","year":"2013","journal-title":"Casp. J. Intern. Med."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17023","DOI":"10.3390\/s121217023","article-title":"Nanostructured Metal Oxide Gas Sensors, a Survey of Applications Carried out at SENSOR Lab, Brescia (Italy) in the Security and Food Quality Fields","volume":"12","author":"Ponzoni","year":"2012","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Malag\u00f9, C., Benetti, M., Carotta, M.C., Giberti, A., Guidi, V., Milano, L., and Martinelli, G. (2006). Investigation of the humidity effects on SNO2-based sensors in CO detection. Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 915.","DOI":"10.1557\/PROC-0915-R07-05"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2088","DOI":"10.3390\/s100302088","article-title":"Metal Oxide Gas Sensors: Sensitivity and Influencing Factors","volume":"10","author":"Wang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Sensors"},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Brinker, C.J., and Scherer, G.W.B. (1990). Sol-gel science: the physics and chemistry of sol-gel processing, Academic Press."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1085","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2016.07.134","article-title":"ZnO and Au\/ZnO thin films: Room-temperature chemoresistive properties for gas sensing applications","volume":"237","author":"Gaiardo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B: Chem."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"277","DOI":"10.1016\/j.snb.2007.07.129","article-title":"Heat exchange and temperature calculation in thick-film semiconductor gas sensor systems","volume":"130","author":"Giberti","year":"2008","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators B: Chem."}],"container-title":["Molecules"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1420-3049\/26\/2\/466\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:12:07Z","timestamp":1760159527000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1420-3049\/26\/2\/466"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,17]]},"references-count":32,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1]]}},"alternative-id":["molecules26020466"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/molecules26020466","relation":{},"ISSN":["1420-3049"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1420-3049","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,17]]}}}