Abstract

The GH-2004 project was established with funding from the United States Anti-Doping Agency and World Anti-Doping Agency to address these issues. The main aim of the GH-2004 project was to investigate any ethnic differences in IGF-I and P-III-P, both in elite athletes and in response to exogenous rhGH in healthy volunteers. In addition the effects of injury on IGF-I and P-III-P were studied in amateur sportsmen and women who had sustained a long or soft-tissue injury. The GH-2004 study has provided further validation that a test based on the measurement of IGF-I and P-III-P can and should be used to detect subjects receiving exogenous GH. Although there are minor ethnic differences in the mean values of IGF-I and P-III-P in elite athletes, most athletes lie within the 99% prediction intervals for white European athletes and the differences are insufficient to invalidate the discriminant function score proposed by the GH-2000 group. IGF-I and P-III-P increase in a dose-dependent manner following the administration of rhGH to subjects from all ethnic groups and therefore the test will have universal applicability. The GH-2000 formula has been shown to work as effectively on an independent data set as it did on its own data, at least in men. Injury will not invalidate the performance of the test. Aus dem Text