Repoxygen
Repoxygen ™ is the brand name for a type of gene therapy that causes the controlled production of erythropoietin (EPO) in mice at low oxygen concentrations . Repoxygen was developed by Oxford Biomedica to treat anemia . It is still in pre-clinical studies and has not yet been tested on a large scale in humans.
Repoxygen was constructed as a viral gene therapy vector that brings the human EPO gene under the control of a so-called hypoxia control element (HRE). The HRE can presumably detect a decreased oxygen concentration and then switch on the EPO gene. Repoxygen is given by injection into muscle tissue to induce the synthesis of EPO there. Physiologically , EPO is formed in the kidneys .
doping
Athletes may use repoxygen to increase red blood cell counts . Due to its self-regulatory properties, it is currently very likely that it would not be possible to detect Repoxygen in a doping test . The use of Repoxygen for doping purposes is prohibited worldwide according to the World Anti-Doping Code.
The German athletics trainer Thomas Springstein is currently under suspicion of using Repoxygen for gene doping .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Online January 6, 2009: Springstein Trial: The age of gene doping has begun .
Web links
- Oxford Biomedica: Successful Preclinical Results for new Anemia Product (engl.)
- World Anti-Doping Code, 2006 Prohibited List (PDF; 98 kB)
- Netzeitung.de: Springstein under suspicion of gene doping ( Memento from September 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )