Changes in Biomarker protein levels in blood

Project Leader (s):
Christer Malm

Affiliation:
Dept. of Integrative Medical Biology

Status:
Active Incubator Project

Brief Description:
Assessment and detection of performance enhancement substance abuse in sports and other similar professional occupations are on the rise stemming from the regulatory agencies like the IOC and its counterparts as well as professional sports bodies such as baseball and boxing. However, the current methods are fraught with limitations; for example, most suspect metabolites clear the host system after some days but some of the changes remain years after the substance use. Detection of anabolic steroids and other banned substances in human blood and urine is only possible for a limited time following intake.

Autologous blood doping or blood taken at a various timepoints, where the components of blood are separated so that only the red blood cells left are retransfused into the host.  It is a common practice of enhancing performance especially for endurance tasks (e.g. cycling or distance running). At present this method of blood boosting by autologous blood transfusion is today undetectable and standard tests cannot distinguish normal variations in hematocrit levels; for example, for athletes who train at high altitudes versus and athlete that re-infused stored blood. The traditional way to detect the effects of specific events in an organism is to examine one or a few markers at a time through e.g. antibodies. But by making use of state of the art proteomics techniques, hundreds to a thousand known proteins can be detected simultaneously providing a global landscape and making it possible to detect small differences (10-­15%) between the two samples.

The project has identified biomarkers to validate as candidates for diagnostic product development. The project owners see blood diagnostic test as their lead product candidate.

Intellectual Property Status:
A provisional patents were filed and new materials are being prepared.

Possible Commercial Potential:
The urgency and market potential is substantiated by the recent press coverage of disclosed or reported abuse by athletes. Its importance is also validated by WADA award to these researchers for detecting blood doping. There are ancillary clinical markets that require further investigation.Contact:
Christer Malm, Project Owner