IGF-1 Gene Therapy ?
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By Clive Cookson in Seattle
A new form of gene therapy being developed to help people with muscle-wasting disease could be used to enhance athletic performance through "gene doping".
The scientist leading the research, Lee Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science about a new study in his laboratory in which genes for a growth factor called IGF-1 were injected into the hind legs of rats. The animals then spent a few weeks on a "weight training protocol".
The muscles in the legs injected with IGF-1 gained twice as much strength as the uninjected legs, Dr Sweeney said. "Additionally, the rate at which the strength was lost in the injected muscles once the training was stopped was very slow compared to the uninjected," he said. "Even without any training, injection of [IGF-1 genes] gave a 15 per cent strength increase."
The purpose of developing IGF-1 gene therapy is to treat muscular disorders, including muscle loss associated with disuse or ageing. But Dr Sweeney said the tests showed it "could also be used in healthy adults to build muscle strength and make muscle more resistant to damage".
"This is but one example of a number of gene therapies being developed with disease treatment as the goal but, if given to a healthy individual, would provide genetic enhancement of some trait," he said.
"The prospects are particularly high that muscle-directed gene therapy will be used by the athletic community for performance enhancement."
Such gene doping would be hard to detect. Richard Pound, chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, who is chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency told the meeting the development of genetic enhancements for athletes paralleled that of performance-enhancing drugs 30 or 40 years ago, when detection techniques and regulatory mechanisms were not in place. He said: "With genetic enhancement we want to make sure we're in there from the start."
Wada is working with Dr Sweeney and other gene therapy researchers to find ways to identify athletes who use gene therapy to cheat.
By Clive Cookson in Seattle
A new form of gene therapy being developed to help people with muscle-wasting disease could be used to enhance athletic performance through "gene doping".
The scientist leading the research, Lee Sweeney of the University of Pennsylvania, told the American Association for the Advancement of Science about a new study in his laboratory in which genes for a growth factor called IGF-1 were injected into the hind legs of rats. The animals then spent a few weeks on a "weight training protocol".
The muscles in the legs injected with IGF-1 gained twice as much strength as the uninjected legs, Dr Sweeney said. "Additionally, the rate at which the strength was lost in the injected muscles once the training was stopped was very slow compared to the uninjected," he said. "Even without any training, injection of [IGF-1 genes] gave a 15 per cent strength increase."
The purpose of developing IGF-1 gene therapy is to treat muscular disorders, including muscle loss associated with disuse or ageing. But Dr Sweeney said the tests showed it "could also be used in healthy adults to build muscle strength and make muscle more resistant to damage".
"This is but one example of a number of gene therapies being developed with disease treatment as the goal but, if given to a healthy individual, would provide genetic enhancement of some trait," he said.
"The prospects are particularly high that muscle-directed gene therapy will be used by the athletic community for performance enhancement."
Such gene doping would be hard to detect. Richard Pound, chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, who is chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency told the meeting the development of genetic enhancements for athletes paralleled that of performance-enhancing drugs 30 or 40 years ago, when detection techniques and regulatory mechanisms were not in place. He said: "With genetic enhancement we want to make sure we're in there from the start."
Wada is working with Dr Sweeney and other gene therapy researchers to find ways to identify athletes who use gene therapy to cheat.
