title: Detection of EPO injections using a rapid lateral flow isoform test.
abstract: Misuse of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) is a major concern in competitive sports, and the implementation of tests allowing for higher detection rates than what current tests are capable of is required. In this study, a novel lateral flow EPO isoform test kit, EPO WGA MAIIA, is evaluated on the basis of plasma and urine samples obtained from eight healthy males in connection with a 28-day rhEPO injection period. rhEPO was injected every other day during the first 14 days of the study, and the method proved to be 100% effective in detecting rhEPO in the concomitantly obtained samples. Seven days after the last injection, three positive (>99.99% confidence limit (CL)) subjects were found. When using 99% CL as the cut-off limit, six of the eight subjects (75%) were found to be suspected of doping. Samples obtained 14 and 21 days after the last injection showed no detectable trace of rhEPO. A previous study using indirect methods to determine EPO doping on the same samples indicated only that two of the subjects had suspicious values 7-21 days after the last injection. We propose implementing the easy to-use EPO WGA MAIIA test as an initial screening procedure in anti-doping work to (1) increase the detection rate of potential rhEPO doping athletes and (2) allow for a 10- to 20-fold higher analytical rate than what is possible today.
authors: Department of Chemistry-BMC, Analytical chemistry, Uppsala University, 751 24, Uppsala, Sweden, maria.lonnberg@kemi.uu.se.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Lönnberg
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Lundby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D004300:Doping in Sports / Q000379:methods* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D004921:Erythropoietin