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44 August / September 2019


Monitoring drugs in sport testing: an insight of current trends and recent findings from the Drug Control Centre, the UK’s Anti-Doping Laboratory


by Erika Castrignanò*, Scarlett Devey, Alan Brailsford and Kim Wolff


Drug Control Centre, King’s Forensics, Department of Analytical, Environmental & Forensic Sciences, School of Population Health & Environmental Sciences, King’s College London, London SE1 9NH


* Corresponding author: Erika Castrignanò, e-mail: erika.castrignano@kcl.ac.uk


The requirement to monitor banned substances and maintain analytical competency in sport means Anti-Doping is a continuous challenge for scientists, due to the diversity of doping agents used and the challenges faced for proving the presence of prohibited substances, their metabolites and doping methodologies (i.e. blood doping). The chemistry of doping agents includes a wide range of substances, from low to high molecular weight molecules, that requires an Anti-Doping Laboratory to be at the top of its analytical performance, but also be a research centre with interests in (i) understanding excretion profiles of new banned drugs, (ii) exploring several “-omics” areas and (iii) developing methods to detect new forms of doping. This article will show recent findings from the Drug Control Centre, the UK’s only WADA accredited Anti-Doping Laboratory, and compare them against those reported by International Laboratories within the context of advanced analytical methodologies to provide an insight into new form of doping.


1. Introduction


Tackling doping in sport is a dynamic challenge that is continuously evolving over time. The input to harmonise strategies and policies in tackling doping worldwide originated when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was established in 1999. Along with educational and social activities aimed at increasing the awareness of the danger of doping for the health of those participating in sport at any level, the scientific aspect needs to cope with various analytical challenges when a prohibited substance is present in an athlete’s sample or when a banned method (such as blood doping) has been attempted or used by the athlete. These analytical challenges involve the detection of an ever greater number of prohibited substances particularly synthetic analogues of anabolic steroids and new biomarkers, and the need to improve assay detection limits. For this purpose, advanced analytical techniques need to keep up with the “multifaceted” nature of doping as doping agents vary from low molecular weight molecules to large proteins. This article will provide an insight of (i) the most recent findings from the UK’s WADA accredited Anti-Doping Laboratory with


the relative state-of-the-art of analytical methodologies used and (ii) consider the impact of new forms of doping.


2. A perspective from an Anti-Doping Laboratory


Along with an increased percentage of 7.1% in the number of samples analysed from 2016 and 2017 by WADA-accredited laboratories, a decrease in the number of Adverse Analytical Findings (AAFs) has been observed in 2017 [1]. An Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) is a report defining the presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or biomarkers in an athlete’s sample or the use of a prohibited method of doping by the athlete [1]. In the report “2017 Anti-Doping Testing Figures” [1], an AAF does not imply a sanctioned Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) as Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) approval processes might be included. It is important to note that the decrease in AAFs from 2016 (1.60%) to 2017 (1.43%) was ascribed in a large part to a decrease in reported cases of meldonium (prescribed to treat coronary artery disease), prohibited in 2016 because of its metabolic modulator activity and known use.


Immediately following its ban there were many AAFs for meldonium as athletes had not ceased to take the drug following its change in status, however by 2017 increased awareness meant this was no longer a problem (i.e. 6.5 times less cases reported in 2017 since it was first banned in 2016).


In 2017, 78 AAFs were reported in the WADA-accredited Drug Control Centre based in London (United Kingdom, UK) that accounted for 1.9% of the total findings (Figure 1) [1]. In agreement with the majority of AAFs found in other WADA-accredited laboratories in the world with exception for two laboratories based in Los Angeles (United States of America, USA) and in Stockholm (Sweden), anabolic agents were the substances with most frequently detected prohibited substances (n = 28). The stimulants were the second most commonly reported drug class with 25 AAFs, followed by narcotics with 10. Those figures show a different profile with respect to the overall percentage of reported findings as diuretics and other masking agents are slightly more prevalent in other laboratories than stimulants, whilst narcotics are less commonly reported (9th most common class).


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