New thesis introduces high tech tools to expose doping

What tools are you introducing?
“The body excretes many of the prohibited substances long before any controls are possible. On the other hand, they leave behind a number of breakdown products, so-called metabolites, that often remain in the body considerably longer. If we extend controls to search for these substances as well, we will prolong the detection windows, and in my thesis I present both new targets and methods that improve our possibilities to detect them.”

How do these methods work in practice?
“To accelerate the excretion of doping elements, our body converts them into various water-soluble substances. We have used liquid chromatography to separate these in samples from horses and humans who have received small doses of muscle-building substances, before analyzing them down to their smallest components in high-resolution mass spectrometry. Along the way, we have identified metabolites formed in the body, as well as a method to increase the concentration of these substances in the laboratory by up to thirty times, thus, making it easier to trace them.”

What significance can your results have in achieving cleaner sports?“In 2012, researchers in our group succeeded in producing previously unknown metabolites of the anabolic steroid oxandrolone, enabling the World Anti-Doping Agency to analyze a number of frozen samples from the Olympics in Athens eight years earlier. At the time of the Games, the metabolite was not yet known, but with the new method, WADA was able to expose two medalists as cheaters and subsequently disqualify them, so this is definitely a technology that opens new doors and makes a difference.”

Will it even place the laboratories one step ahead of the cheaters?
“I would rather say it is a valuable complement to already available tools. The more analytical approaches we develop, the greater the chance for laboratories to succeed. To keep up with the cheaters, we must work along several parallel tracks. Among many things, we need to stay up-to-date regarding the preparations provided online, but by applying the tools we are now introducing, we can in real time create the reference substances required to trace them.”

Are your results ready to use or awaiting further development?
“They are ready and available for anti-doping laboratories to start using. The Swedish Veterinary Agency – where I will take up a research position after my dissertation – will for example implement the metabolites that I have identified. In parallel, there is potential to further sharpen the technology, but before new steps can be taken, certain preparations are required.”

Finally, what are your thoughts on the debate to legalize doping?
”I can to some extent understand a few of the arguments to legalize doping among humans, but personally I am convinced that health aspects and the unreasonableness of leaving such decisions to the individual make it impossible to implement. If we turn to animals – where competitions with horses, dogs, pigeons and camels are arranged – the ethical aspects are far more than sufficient to justify a continued ban.”

FACTS

• Malin Nilsson Broberg defends her thesis at BMC room B42, Husargatan 3, Friday March 22, at 09.15.
• The research team in Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemistry mainly covers bioanalysis – determination of drugs and metabolites in biological systems – with a particular focus on separation methods linked to mass spectrometry.

LEARN MORE

• Read thesis Metabolite Profiling of Drugs using Mass Spectrometry • Identification of analytical targets for doping control and improvements of the metabolite search process
• Research in Analytical Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Uppsala University

CONTACT

Text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt a o