Lance Armstrong
This month, some of the favorites to win the Tour de
France endurance bicycle race were prevented from entering
because of suspicion that they may have taken drugs or had
blood transfusions to raise their red blood cell counts. That
brings up the accusation that Lance Armstrong, possibly the
most dominant endurance bicycle racer of all time, took blood
boosting drugs when he won the first of his seven Tour De
France victories.
The allegation is that Lance Armstrong’s urine, kept in
storage for six years, had a positive test for EPO, a restricted
drug that raises blood levels of oxygen-carrying and
performance-enhancing hemoglobin. An article published in the prestigious medical journal, Blood (June 15,
2006) shows that after competing in any athletic event, any
athlete could have a false positive urine test for EPO.
The test for EPO is done by injecting the protein, EPO,
into animals so that their bodies produce special proteins called
antibodies that attach to EPO. The antibodies are put on a
special plate, and the test urine is added. If the urine contains
EPO, a band consisting of the antibody tied to the EPO appears
on the special plate.
Researchers at Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium
showed that “this widely used test can occasionally lead to the
false-positive detection of EPO in postexercise, protein-rich
urine.” Any athlete can have a false positive test with this
procedure. Most people with healthy kidneys do not spill protein
in their urine, but after strenuous exercise, athletes with normal
kidneys often spill protein into their urine. For example, more
than 80 percent of runners spilled protein into their urines after
running the Boston Marathon. The authors state that the
antibodies that are used in the test can attach to any protein in
the urine, not just EPO.
Checked 9/29/08