Using Proteins As Markers for Anabolic Steroid Abuse: A New Perspective in Doping Control?

Abstract

Drug toxicity is a major concern and has motivated numerous studies to elucidate specific adverse mechanisms, with acetaminophen being the favorite candidate in toxicology studies. Conversely, androgenic anabolic steroids (AASs) also represent a severe public health issue in sports for elite and non-elite athletes. Supraphysiological dosages of AASs are associated with various adverse effects, from cardiovascular to neurological repercussions including liver dysfunction. Yet, few studies have addressed the toxicity of anabolic steroids, and a significant amount of work will be needed to elucidate and understand steroid toxicity properly. This Perspective suggests ideas on how proteomics and liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) can contribute to (1) pinpoint serum proteins affected by substantial doses of anabolic steroids that would represent interesting novel candidates for routine testing and (2) provide additional knowledge on androgenic anabolic steroid toxicity to help raise awareness on the harmful effects. ■ CONTENTSIntroduction 1168 LC-MS/(MS)-

Annual banned‐substance review 16th edition—Analytical approaches in human sports drug testing 2022/2023

“…While significant changes in muscle gene expression profiles associated with anabolic processes allowed for clustering AAS users via analyses of muscle tissue samples, the whole blood transcriptional signature was not found to provide the information that enables the identification of previous AAS, thus preventing an implementation of this strategy for the time being. Whether or not downstream biosynthetic products at the proteome level can provide further or longer‐lasting indicators was discussed by Sansoucy and Naud 56 . Based on earlier studies where plasma proteins such as thyroxine‐binding globulin and high density lipoprotein (HDL) were shown to be affected by AAS use (especially at supratherapeutic amounts), as well as apolipoprotein 1, alpha‐2‐Heremans‐Schmid glycoprotein, and vitamin D binding protein being up/downregulated by growth hormone injections, further research into proteome alterations caused by misuse of anabolic agents was considered warranted.…”