Rehovot, Israel -- (23 February 2006) -- The study published in the major international scientific journal on blood science and medicine suggests International Olympic Committee (IOC) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) testing for Erythropoietin (Epo) is based on faked science.
Erythropoietin (Epo) is a glycoprotein hormone that is mainly produced by the kidney. It boosts the production of red blood cells by promoting the proliferation, differentiation and survival of progenitor cells of the erythroid lineage. Recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) is widely used for the treatment of various forms of anaemia. Since rhEpo increases the body's maximum oxygen consumption capacity and endurance by increasing red cell mass, it has also been embraced as an aid in endurance sports. However, this use of Epo was prohibited by IOC and WADA , which has led to the screening of athletes for rhEpo abuse.
Endogenous and recombinant human forms of Epo have different pattern of molecule modification called glycosylation. Such a tiny difference between natural Epo, its' biotechnological and structural analogs (such as Darbepoetin) leads to the molecule electric charge differences that have been exploited to distinguish endogenous and recombinant isoforms by a so called isoelectric focusing technique.
The adopted by WADA urine test for EPO is based on a combination of isoelectric focusing on a gel (a semi-analytical separation of proteins according to the molecules' net electric charge), the transfer of proteins from gel to a special paper and protein detection by a double immunoblotting, not well established complicated and operator-dependent procedure to immunologically detect proteins of interest with an antibody color reaction.
In the Blood journal study research group led by Associate Professor Monique Beullens and Professor Mathieu Bollen (of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium) and their colleague Dr. Joris R Delanghe (of the Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital, Gent, Belgium) shows that widely-used by IOC and WADA Epo test can lead to the false-positive detection of rhEpo in post-exercise, protein-rich urine of the endurance sports athletes.
As a result of a disputed case of alleged rhEpo-abuse by an endurance athlete with post-exercise proteinuria, European scientists wondered whether the test for rhEpo can lead to false-positive results, perhaps as a result of cross-reactivity of the Epo-antibodies with unrelated to Epo other proteins of urine.
Straightforward experimental protocol of the reported study leaves little doubt that the major urinary protein that WADA test visualizes with the ani-Epo antibodies is not Epo.
The article by Belgian scientists therefore challenges WADA claim that "the detection method for EPO is valid and reliable." Similarly faulty now sounds another WADA statement that the method for Epo detection "has undergone an extensive scientific validation..." and that "it is a well-established procedure widely accepted by the scientific community, as demonstrated by publication in a number of international scientific journals."
Contrary to WADA claim, the Doping Journal analysis of citation impact of earlier publications on Epo testing in urine indicates IOC/WADA method for Epo testing is not scientifically popular/accepted or well-established. An in depth analysis of the articles behind the IOCs' urine test for Epo shows these earlier publications missed critical control experiments and were not designed to exclude non-specific false-positive misidentification of other non-Epo urine components.
Therefore "The 2006 Prohibited List" section S2 on "Hormones and Related Substances" of The World Anti-Doping Code (stating with regard to Epo that "unless the athlete can demonstrate that the [Epo] concentration was due to a physiological or pathological condition" [an urine sample] deemed to contain a prohibited substance Epo") provides the grounds for blood doping corruption by IOC and WADA, abuses athletes, and obstructs Olympic play true principal.
The study published in an advanced online publication of the Blood, suggest that WADA data on blood doping are invalid, and that innocent athletes could lost their Olympic medals because of IOC and WADA misconduct. Latest possible IOC false detection of Epo took place at Salt Lake City during Winter Olympic Games 2002, when two Russian cross-country skiers (Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova) and one Spanish athlete (Johann Muehlegg) were stripped off their medals after testing positive for Epo analog Darbepoietin. The present Blood study published during the XX Olympic Games 2006 in Turin, Italy, indicates Olympic champions could wrongly suffer IOC sanctions.
Other aspects of the misconduct by IOC's WADA are analysed in the leading article of the just published first issue of the newly established International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.
Blood ( www.bloodjournal.org ) is the Journal of the American Society of Hematology, the major peer reviewed international journal on science and medicine of blood with very high latest impact factors of 10 .
Doping Journal ( www.dopingjournal.org ) is an independent non-profit international peer-reviewed scholar publication on every aspect of doping science. It is a so called Open Access (OA) publication available free of charge to everyone with a computer and an Internet connection. It is indexed by the National Library of Medicine USA, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and a great number of academic and public libraries worldwide. The multinational readership trend of the Doping Journal can be accessed at the journal readers' map.
For more information contact Alexei Koudinov, MD, PhD, editor, Doping Journal, P.O.Box 1665, Rehovot 76100 Israel, tel: (972 54) 796-8607 , postmaster[at]dopingjournal.org
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