Sports drug testing for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents and autologous blood transfusion

摘要

With the rise of biotechnology during the 1980s, production of recornbinant proteins also has also become a major driving force in pharmaceutical industry. After a long search for erythropoietin (EPO), the main protein factor responsible for human red cell production (erythropoiesis), and its successful isolation in 1977,[1] molecular biology made cloning of the EPO gene (1985)[21 and high-quality production of EPO for the treatment of primarily kidney-diseased persons (1989) possible. In parallel, EPO also started to be misused by athletes for doping purposes, as an increase in red blood cell (RBC) massjed to improved performance characteristics especially in endurance sports.