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The use of growth hormone (GH)-dependent markers in the detection of GH abuse in sport: physiological intra-individual variation of IGF-I, type 3 pro-collagen (P-III-P) and the GH-2000 detection score

The use of growth hormone (GH)-dependent markers in the detection of GH abuse in sport: physiological intra-individual variation of IGF-I, type 3 pro-collagen (P-III-P) and the GH-2000 detection score
The use of growth hormone (GH)-dependent markers in the detection of GH abuse in sport: physiological intra-individual variation of IGF-I, type 3 pro-collagen (P-III-P) and the GH-2000 detection score
Background: Growth Hormone is abused by athletes for its lipolytic and anabolic properties. Its use is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The GH-2000 project developed a methodology to detect its abuse using the concentrations of two GH-dependent biomarkers, IGF-I and type 3 procollagen (P-III-P). The sensitivity of this method may be improved by considering intraindividual
variability.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the intra-individual variability of IGF-I, P-III-P and the GH-2000 score.

Subjects and methods: IGF-I, P-III-P and GH-2000 score were evaluated in four longitudinal studies involving 303 elite and 78 amateur athletes. Samples were collected over a period of up to 12 months from a total of 238 men and 143 women aged between 17 and 53 years (mean 24.2.

Results: The four studies showed good agreement with no apparent difference in within-individual variation between amateur and elite athletes. The intra-individual variability for IGF-I ranged between 14–16% while the variability for P-III-P was 7–18%. No athlete tested positive for growth hormone during any of the studies. The overall mean intra-individual variability of the GH-2000 score was less than 0.6 units in all studies.

Conclusions: The high stability of marker levels suggests that concentrations are largely genetically determined. Adopting a test based on the concept of an athlete’s ‘passport’ or ‘profiling’ would
take advantage of this and most likely increase the sensitivity of the test. These data also provide strong evidence that a positive test result for GH abuse would not occur as a result of chance variability.
growth Hormone, abuse, sport, IGF, P-III-P, variability, longitudinal
520-526
Erotokritou-Mulligan, Ioulietta
8bb8720a-eda7-4ad4-b969-0b35c5e5226c
Bassett, E. Eryl
fefd7f16-2045-4700-adaa-7cc6049933a4
Cowan, David A.
22bdafa8-cee8-481a-97d5-2687fcf325ca
Bartlett, Christiaan
ed9cba27-96ef-419e-824b-fabab5c7cba8
Milward, Polly
f0aa31df-4644-409d-9716-314f3f6830e6
Sartorio, Alessandro
c85b18ef-e122-4c38-a08d-b1aa5ca9ee56
Sönksen, Peter H.
e0c748c6-c924-4436-aacd-db754e636833
Holt, Richard I.G.
d54202e1-fcf6-4a17-a320-9f32d7024393
Erotokritou-Mulligan, Ioulietta
8bb8720a-eda7-4ad4-b969-0b35c5e5226c
Bassett, E. Eryl
fefd7f16-2045-4700-adaa-7cc6049933a4
Cowan, David A.
22bdafa8-cee8-481a-97d5-2687fcf325ca
Bartlett, Christiaan
ed9cba27-96ef-419e-824b-fabab5c7cba8
Milward, Polly
f0aa31df-4644-409d-9716-314f3f6830e6
Sartorio, Alessandro
c85b18ef-e122-4c38-a08d-b1aa5ca9ee56
Sönksen, Peter H.
e0c748c6-c924-4436-aacd-db754e636833
Holt, Richard I.G.
d54202e1-fcf6-4a17-a320-9f32d7024393

Erotokritou-Mulligan, Ioulietta, Bassett, E. Eryl, Cowan, David A., Bartlett, Christiaan, Milward, Polly, Sartorio, Alessandro, Sönksen, Peter H. and Holt, Richard I.G. (2010) The use of growth hormone (GH)-dependent markers in the detection of GH abuse in sport: physiological intra-individual variation of IGF-I, type 3 pro-collagen (P-III-P) and the GH-2000 detection score. Clinical Endocrinology, 72 (4), 520-526. (doi:10.1111/j.1365-2265.2009.03668.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Growth Hormone is abused by athletes for its lipolytic and anabolic properties. Its use is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The GH-2000 project developed a methodology to detect its abuse using the concentrations of two GH-dependent biomarkers, IGF-I and type 3 procollagen (P-III-P). The sensitivity of this method may be improved by considering intraindividual
variability.

Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the intra-individual variability of IGF-I, P-III-P and the GH-2000 score.

Subjects and methods: IGF-I, P-III-P and GH-2000 score were evaluated in four longitudinal studies involving 303 elite and 78 amateur athletes. Samples were collected over a period of up to 12 months from a total of 238 men and 143 women aged between 17 and 53 years (mean 24.2.

Results: The four studies showed good agreement with no apparent difference in within-individual variation between amateur and elite athletes. The intra-individual variability for IGF-I ranged between 14–16% while the variability for P-III-P was 7–18%. No athlete tested positive for growth hormone during any of the studies. The overall mean intra-individual variability of the GH-2000 score was less than 0.6 units in all studies.

Conclusions: The high stability of marker levels suggests that concentrations are largely genetically determined. Adopting a test based on the concept of an athlete’s ‘passport’ or ‘profiling’ would
take advantage of this and most likely increase the sensitivity of the test. These data also provide strong evidence that a positive test result for GH abuse would not occur as a result of chance variability.

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More information

Submitted date: 24 July 2009
Accepted/In Press date: 24 July 2009
Published date: April 2010
Keywords: growth Hormone, abuse, sport, IGF, P-III-P, variability, longitudinal

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 73086
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/73086
PURE UUID: a2b85189-6458-4ee6-9b12-b8fb6860bd68
ORCID for Richard I.G. Holt: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8911-6744

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Date deposited: 02 Mar 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:45

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Contributors

Author: Ioulietta Erotokritou-Mulligan
Author: E. Eryl Bassett
Author: David A. Cowan
Author: Christiaan Bartlett
Author: Polly Milward
Author: Alessandro Sartorio
Author: Peter H. Sönksen

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