How Fast Are We?

by Danny Mackey M.S.

             Regina Jacobs, Marian Jones, Tim Montgomery, the 7 Russian athletes this year, Brahim Boulami, Justin Gatlin etc etc.  I could add another 100 etc etc.  It is no wonder why people look at the recent amazing performances of Kenenisa Bekele, Usian Bolt or Haile Gebreselassie with a pessimistic (or realistic?) eye. 

            We all know the people that think everyone cheats, I probably sit somewhere in the middle and think (or know) athletes cheat but not all.  Call me a hopeless ignorant guy who still believes we have not yet reached the peak of our human limitations, but I do.  I have to believe that there are some clean athletes out there, otherwise I would not be competing myself and sure as heck would not be a fan of the sport……..

So what we are going to do here is talk about cheating, though I have no intention of changing minds.  Specifically, gene doping (the new potential method).  I will break this into a few parts…and articles for a few reasons. 

I am hoping to get some constructive discussion amongst people on the comment section here, you all have good thoughts and everyone can benefit from them.

I do not want to overdo everything in one shot and have an 11 page article and neither do you. (note: when I have a number in quotes I’m pulling that information off a research article, at the end I’ll post some references, if you want it beforehand let me know)

All athletes should participate in the competitions which reward and compare the ability, strength and training of the athletes under equal conditions (1).  As humans compete in various sports from baseball to running; the many amazing athletic performances will continue to increase the standard of elite.  Athletes will hit more homeruns, bench press more weight or improve on an existing world record.  A current trend in our thought process is skepticism not necessarily admiration.  Many current headlines feature aspects of doping.  Since the beginning of competition people have gained an unfair advantage by any means available.  Competitors are not necessarily looking for major performance improvements through doping, because even small gains are the difference between winning and losing.  The possibilities are endless, people could cut corners in races, cork their bat, put glue on their hands, blood dope or inject themselves with anabolic steroids, and the list of cheating opportunities continues.  Athletes, coaches and their scientists will always attempt to stay one step ahead of either their competition or the people trying to catch cheaters. 

The new method of gaining an illicit advantage, gene doping, has emerged from a once beneficial therapeutic specialty of gene therapy.  Gene of cell doping is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as “the non-therapeutic use of genes, genetic elements and/or cells that have the capacity to enhance athletic performance (1).” The genes that were used in therapies originally developed for the treatment of diseases such as anemia, muscular dystrophy and peripheral vascular diseases are the same genes used for doping purposes .  The possible uses of genetic technology may be split according to this purpose: enhancement or therapy.  Genetic enhancement means altering genes to improve human traits or characteristics beyond what is considered “normal” for humans which are different from naturally occurring genomes (2).  Gene therapy is when carefully selected fragments of genes are delivered to specific tissues or cells by means of viral or other methods to repair a genetic problem.  The genetic enhancement has emerged as a powerful method of improvement because it involves the power to redesign ourselves to become faster and stronger.

So is this even plausible?

Gene doping works by selecting a virus as a delivery vehicle, this is also named a vector.  The viruses are used because they are capable to transfer genes into cells (2).  The transfer of genes can be done by direct injection of DNA into the muscle, insertion of genetically modified cells, or via a virus.  When the virus is in the nucleus of the host cell, the virus uses the cellular machinery to replicate its genes and produce proteins.  The gene doping scientists or gene therapists then load a synthetic gene into the virus and remove any genes the virus may use to cause disease or to replicate itself (3).  A major challenge in gene doping is getting a chosen gene into the desired tissue.   This challenge does not seem to stop athletes from gene doping.  Brain Corrigan the former head of the Australian Sports Drug Agency has said: “I believe that it (gene doping) is here and that athletes are already experimenting with it.”  Another specialist, Dr. Andy Miah has said: “I think it is technically possible that we have gene doping athletes already in the world of sports.”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) uses an international anti-doping code.  The code is used in the testing of athletes to identify the use of drugs like steroids, a range of hormones, diuretics and various methods to enhance oxygen transfer.  The WADA also financially supports scientific programs to develop methods to test for drug use among athletes.  In 2003 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and WADA released a list of banned substances.  A big change in the list was the new category of genetic doping as a banned method (3).  People have known for many years that genetic differences can result in improved athletic performances.  In the 1964 Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, a Finnish cross country skier named Eero Mantyranta won two gold medals.  The difference between Eero and the athletes he beat was not the fact that he trained differently.  Eero’s advantage was he was born with a genetic mutation that increased the oxygen carrying capacity of his red blood cells by 25-50%.  He had a mutation in the gene coding for the erythropoietin receptor which prevented the normal feedback control of red blood cell mass (5). 

Since 1964 a number of genetic studies of human physical performance have emerged.  A yearly publication summarizing the literature on the genetics of physical performance has now identified over 100 genetic variants that may effect muscular, morphological and cardio respiratory factors (7).  Genes greatly influence inter-individual differences in exercise performance and adaptation to training stimuli. 

The science behind gene doping is relatively young which means that each day people gain more knowledge about how to use the technique.  Anti-doping agencies like the WADA have solid procedures on testing for older methods of illegal performance enhancement like steroids, or blooding doping.  The athletes have a new attractive method that may have better results; this will have a great influence on the plausibility of gene doping.