Gene doping is a concept that came from work being done with gene therapy. Gene therapy involves injecting DNA into a person’s body to correct a problem with a missing or damaged gene. The goal is to have this new gene fill the function of the damaged gene. Gene doping involves inserting DNA into a person with the goal of enhancing their athletic performance. In 1999 when the World Anti-Doping Agency was created to monitor doping in all forms, gene doping was defined as the “non-therapeutic use of cells, genes, genetic elements, or modulation of gene expression, having the capacity to enhance performance. While gene doping is not yet being done on people, it seems like it could be happening in a few short years. H. Lee Sweeney, a professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania, performed research on mice with a mutation in the dystrophin gene that caused them to express symptoms similar to Duchenne muscular dystrophy. This leads to loss of muscle fiber, fibrosis, and eventually complete loss of muscle function. He found that a protein called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) actually caused the affected muscle cells to grow. Sweeny and his team found that by inserting the gene that encodes for IGF-1 directly into these muscle cells produced the same effect. When the mice with fibrosis were exposed to this insulin-like growth factor, the fibrosis decreased with age and the muscle mass increased by almost half. There is another group of scientists who found that injecting mice with a gene that encodes a fat-burning protein called PPAR-δ allowed them to run twice the distance of their wild-type siblings. It does not seem far fetched to imagine these technologies being applied to humans sometime soon. If research continues there may be breakthroughs in treatments for people suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy and for people suffering from other degenerative muscular diseases. A downside would be if these treatments got into the wrong hands and started being used for the wrong reasons. Both of these genes injected into a healthy person could given them a physical advantage over a normal person. This is where gene doping could become a problem. Gene doping could be the steroids of the future, causing new dilemmas. Will athletes need DNA tests to play professionally someday?
This photo shows an example of gene therapy. The new DNA is being introduced to the cell by an adenovirus vector. The gene being added has placed into the viral DNA and will be injected into the targeted cell with the goal of having the host cell, with the new gene, be able to make proteins it wasn't able to before.
Pray, Leslie A. “Sports, Gene Doping and WADA.” Nature. Nature Publishing Group, 2008. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/sports-gene-doping-and-wada-764>
1Droid JamLos. Gene Therapy. 5 Aug. 2008. Photo. Flickr. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. <http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamlos/2734418031/>
I agree 100% that athletes will have to be DNA tested in the future to be able to play professionally because even if there is a remote thought that this is going to become as popular as steroids , it will try to be prevented.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool concept! I can also see the possible misuse if in the wrong hands. I am thinking about the old show on fox called dark angel. Did you ever see that? Jessica Alba was a genetically enhanced human built for military purposes and she escaped! It isn't that far fetched if you think about all the possiblities! In the show she had some feline DNA and could see in the dark but the down side was she'd go into heat LOL! I am glad you might continue this blog after school! It's such a sweet topic!
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