A new drug detection method for use in sport has been developed. Some athletes abuse recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) because it stimulates the production of new red blood cells, the effect of which is to boost the delivery of oxygen to body tissues. Until now, it has been difficult to detect because the body produces natural EPO, but researchers from the national anti-doping laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry, France, have discovered a technique that distinguishes the two types.
The isoelectric patterns of the two forms were found to be different, with natural EPO having a more acidic isoelectric point than recombinant EPO because of structural differences. This meant that the forms could be separated by isoelectric focusing.
The researchers demonstrated the test using urine samples frozen from the 1998 Tour de France cycling competition, and found that 14 of 102 samples contained recombinant EPO. They comment that the method could be used for detecting recent EPO use in athletes during competitions of long duration and also for out of competition testing (Nature 2000:405:635).