Challenges For Reliable Testing For HGH Use In Sports

Phase4 Pharmaceutical Research And Development Division: What makes testing for HGH levels in one’s bloodstream difficult, is that the liver processes and breaks down HGH into many different growth factors within hours after HGH is produced naturally by the pituitary gland or introduced by injections or homeopathic products.

The current test protocol is to test for levels of IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor One) which is one of the main growth factors that result from the processing of HGH by the liver. IGF-1 becomes the “Marker” that is tested for to prove the prior presence of HGH in the bloodstream.

With the recent publicity surrounding so man professional athletes using HGH to improved strength, endurance, and overall sports performance, there is a huge worldwide effort to come up with a reliable test for HGH prior to the Olympics this summer in China.

A British scientist who has invented a blood test to detect artificial human growth hormone in athletes is optimistic that his work will finally be used to catch drug cheats at the Beijing Olympics - nine years after completing his research.

Professor Peter Sonksen perfected his test for HGH in time for the 2000 Sydney Olympics only to have his funding inexplicably withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee and his work sidelined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in favour of an alternative test.

Now WADA have rekindled their interest after Sonksen's cause was taken up by UK Sport, who re-examined the professor's work last year and became convinced of its scientific credibility.
Andy Parkinson, head of operations at UK Sport's drug-free sport unit, will meet senior WADA officials in Montreal tomorrow to update them on the test and discuss the validation process required for it to be used in Beijing.

"What we've been trying to do is be the middle man between WADA and the science," said Parkinson, who believes Sonksen's work could be a potent weapon against dope cheats this summer.

The development has been welcomed by Sonksen, 71, an emeritus professor of endocrinology at St Thomas' Hospital in London and a visiting professor at Southampton University. He was never offered any explanation as to why his test was not taken up before.

"It's a mystery to me," he said. "There are all sorts of theories you can put forward from cock-up to conspiracy and any of them fits. But I'm more optimistic now and I take my hat off to UK Sport for the initiative they've taken."

The test in use at present can detect HGH in an athlete's bloodstream for just 24 hours after it has been injected, whereas Sonksen's test, which looks for markers of HGH rather than HGH itself, can detect it for up to two weeks.

"We know that we can pick some people up as long as 14 days after and probably a bit beyond that," said Sonksen. "I think the threat to any athlete thinking that the test could last as long as two weeks will be a pretty good reason for them not to take it."

Such are the current test's limitations, there is strong anecdotal evidence that HGH has become the drug of choice for cheats. Marion Jones, the disgraced American sprinter jailed for six months for lying about cheating, took it as part of a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs.
Sonksen said: "The Chinese are now producing high-quality recombinant [artificial] growth hormone which is being sold on the black market at much cheaper prices, so its use is going to spread."

WADA director general David Howman confirmed his agency was considering using the Sonksen test, possibly with other HGH research. "We've got about four research teams and we are working together to advance a test or tests for HGH and Professor Sonksen's is one of them," he said.

"What we are really trying to do is to see if they can work together. His idea is a little bit different from some of the others, so we are looking at ways of saying, 'There could be two methods that are both useful and capable of being implemented at the same time'. HGH is probably No 1 on our priority list to make sure we can conduct analyses and detect it."