Rattankun Thongbun / Getty ImagesProduced in the ear canal, earwax protects against infectionsRattankun Thongbun / Getty Images
Cerumen, a sticky orange material more commonly known as earwax, can contain volatile compounds that can help diagnose early stages of cancer—characterized by inflammation that accelerates the body’s metabolism and abnormal cell growth known as dysplasia—and differentiate between benign and malignant tumors. After using volatile metabolites derived from reactive oxygen species (ROS) to track diseases in dogs and cattle, chemist Nelson Roberto Antoniosi Filho and his team at the Federal University of Goiás used the same technique, in addition to gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, to detect metabolic changes caused by pre-cancer in humans. Earwax samples from 751 volunteers, some with cancer and others without, revealed compounds derived from lipid (fat) metabolism generated by changes in the functioning of cellular structures (mitochondria). Cerumen normally protects the outer ear canal from damage caused by water, infection, trauma, and foreign bodies (Scientific Reports, April 22).
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