Gene Doping

Gene therapy for restoring muscle lost to age or disease is poised to enter the clinic, but elite athletes are eyeing it to enhance performance Can it be long before gene doping changes the nature of sport?

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Viral Mediated Expression of Insulin-like Growth Factor I Blocks the Aging-Related Loss of Skeletal Muscle Function. Elisabeth R. Barton-Davis et al. in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Vol. 95, No. 26, pages 15,603-15,607; December 22, 1998.

Muscle, Genes and Athletic Performance. Jasper L. Anderson, Peter Schjerling and Bengt Saltin in Scientific American, Vol. 283, No. 3, pages 48-55; September 2000.

Toward Molecular Talent Scouting. Gary Taubes in Scientific American Presents: Building the Elite Athlete, Vol. 11, No. 3, pages 26-31; Fall 2000.

Viral Expression of Insulin-like Growth Factor-I Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy in Resistance-Trained Rats. Sukho Lee et al. in Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 96, No. 3, pages 1097-1104; March 2004.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 291 Issue 1This article was published with the title “Gene Doping” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 291 No. 1 ()
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican072004-1HLAF3xKj52ZB3A6vrfm11

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