Abstract

The glycoprotein erythropoietin (EPO) has been on WADA's Prohibited List since 1990. Detection of EPO-abuse is based on the different isoelectric profiles of endogenous and recombinant EPO. Recently, it has been rumoured that athletes add chemicals containing proteolytic enzymes to their urine samples in order to remove traces of recombinant EPO (rEPO). Additionally, the number of analyzed urines void of EPO-signal has allegedly increased. In our own material from a major championship the IEF-profile for EPO was undetectable in 25 % of the samples. Proteases, enzymes that break down proteins, can have a variety of sources as they are found naturally in our body, in plants and in fruits (i.e. bromelain in pineapple and papain in papaya), and they are added to laundry detergents as spot removal aid. In an attempt to resolve possible routes of cheating with enzymatic digestion of EPO, we wanted to determine the amount of laundry detergent needed to break down detectable EPO in urine and to see whether drinking or adding the juice from a protease-rich fruit like pineapple could have a similar EPO-degradable effect. Einleitung