Gene doping is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency as "the non-theraputic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or of the modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to improve athletic performance." [1]

For example, gene therapies to treat muscle-wasting disorders will soon be entering human clinical trials. Among these are therapies that give patients a synthetic gene , which can last for years, producing high amounts of naturally occurring muscle-building hormones such as insulinlike growth factor I (IGF-I ). The chemicals are indistinguishable from their natural counterparts and are only generated locally in the affected tissue. Nothing unusual enters the bloodstream, so officials will have nothing to detect in a blood or urine test.

This form of doping is not limited to the modification of muscle growth. With the possibility of introducing completely new synthetic genes in addition the thousands of existing genes available for overexpression, gene therapy (and therefore gene doping) is limited only by the current level of genetic knowledge and the imagination of researchers.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already asked scientists to help find ways to prevent gene therapy from becoming the newest means of doping.

See also

• Doping
• Gene therapy
• World Anti-Doping Agency

External links

• World Anti-Doping Agency Website
• Scientific American July 2004 - Gene Doping