Bladder cancer is one of most common types of
cancer diagnosed in the genitourinary tract. Typical tests are costly and characterized by low sensitivity, which contributes to a growing interest in volatile
biomarkers. Head space solid phase microextraction (
SPME) was applied for the extraction of
volatile organic compounds from urine samples, and gas chromatography time of flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC TOF MS) was used for the separation and detection of urinary volatiles. A cohort of 40 adult patients with
bladder cancer and 57 healthy persons was recruited. Different VOC profiles were obtained for urine samples taken from each group. Twelvecompounds were found only in the samples from theBC group.The proposed candidate
biomarkers are butyrolactone; 2-methoxyphenol; 3-methoxy-5-
methylphenol; 1-(2,6,6-trimethylcyclohexa-1,3-dien-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one;
nootkatone and 1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-1-cyclohexenyl)-2-buten-1-one.Since most of the studies published in the field are proving the potential of VOCs detected in urine samples for the screening and discrimination of patients with
bladder cancer from healthy, but rarely presenting the identity of proposed
biomarkers, our study represents a novel approach.