title: How to confirm C.E.R.A. doping in athletes' blood?
abstract: C.E.R.A. (Continuous Erythropoietin Receptor Activator) is a new third-generation erythropoiesis-stimulating agent that has recently been linked with abuse in endurance sports. The anti-doping community rapidly reacted by releasing a high-throughput screening ELISA allowing the detection of C.E.R.A. doping in athletes' blood. In order to return adverse analytical findings, anti-doping laboratories, however, need, as far as possible, to confirm the presence of the drug in athletes' samples through orthogonal methods. This article focuses on the comparison of 2 proposed confirmation assays based on gel electrophoresis that were coupled with a new sample immunopurification method. IEF, the classical method used to target erythropoietin (EPO) and its recombinant analogues in athletes' samples, and SARKOSYL-PAGE were applied to the plasma samples of subjects having received a single injection of C.E.R.A. It was demonstrated that SARKOSYL-PAGE was at least 6 times more sensitive than IEF, with comparable specificity. A longer detection window coupled with easier interpretation criteria led us to recommend the use of SARKOSYL-PAGE to confirm C.E.R.A. presence in athletes' blood.
authors: Laboratoire Suisse d'Analyse du Dopage, Centre Universitaire Romand de Médecine Légale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland. nicolas.leuenberger@chuv.ch
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: Leuenberger
authors: Séverine
authors: S
authors: Lamon
authors: Neil
authors: N
authors: Robinson
authors: Sylvain
authors: S
authors: Giraud
authors: Martial
authors: M
authors: Saugy
mesh_terms: D004300:Doping in Sports; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000097:blood*; D006397:Hematinics / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007525:Isoelectric Focusing; D008297:Male; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006397:Hematinics; C508420:continuous erythropoietin receptor activator; D004921:Erythropoietin; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols