"Genetic Doping" with erythropoietin cDNA in primate muscle is detectable.

Forthcoming bgenetic dopingQ is predicted to be undetectable. In the case of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO), a hormone used in endurance sports, it is being predicted that exogenous drug injections will be replaced by the transfer of the corresponding gene into some of the athleteTs own cells. The hormone thus produced inside the organism is assumed to be completely identical to the physiological one. Our results show that this is not the case and open up optimistic prospects for antidoping control involving gene transfer. Doping in sport, with very few exceptions, arises from misused medical treatments. This is the case for rhEPO, a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production and that has become a key element of doping in endurance sports. Treatment with rhEPO currently requires repeated injections of recombinant hormones obtained from nonhuman cells, i.e., Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and baby hamster kidney (BHK) cells, into which the human gene of the hormone has been inserted. Natural endogenous and rhEPO were shown to present different isoelectric profiles, probably the result of altered posttranslational modifications that are speciesand tissue typedependent. This difference has allowed for the development of a test to detect the presence of rhEPO in urine, a test that is currently used in antidoping controls [1]. Genetic technologies are expected to change the very nature of medical treatments. For instance, it is now conceivable that administration of an exogenous therapeutic protein will be replaced by introducing the corresponding gene into some of the patientTs own cells. It is almost inevitable that athletes will exploit such medical progress in an effort to elude detection by sport authorities charged with curbing doping practices. Doping practices, in addition to being the focus of regulatory issues, may also severally and