Italy on Tuesday unveiled the first test against possible genetic doping in sports, a risk which many sports authorities see coming in the not too distant future.
"Many experts have aired the fear that techniques of cell or DNA transplants may be used to dope athletes," said Florence University genetic disease researcher Marcello Arca, who helped develop the test.
The test, presented Tuesday at the National Health Institute, aims to pinpoint areas in the body where cells or DNA have been implanted to boost muscle mass or increase the flow of oxygen in the blood.
The new test, Arca said, would be based on conventional DNA and genetic science such as that already used in DNA crime tests, research on metabolic diseases and to assess the success of bone-marrow transplants.
"As well as the positive use of these techniques, one can imagine a negative use," he said.
"An athlete's genetic make-up, for instance, could be modified to produce more protein to bulk muscles up".
Arca's team, under the guidance of the health ministry's anti-doping department, will try to identify the existing tests that could be most easily used for genetic doping.
"The idea is to pinpoint, in a mixture of DNA in a test-tube, the extraneous genetic matter".
He said small fragments of genetic material, DNA sequences called microsatellites, could be used to trace what has been put into an athlete's body.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has already asked scientists to help find ways to prevent gene therapy from becoming the newest means of doping.
In December 2005, the World Anti-Doping Agency hosted its second landmark meeting on gene doping, which took place in Stockholm.
At this meeting, the delegates drafted a declaration on gene doping which, for the first time, included a strong discouragement on the use of genetic testing for performance.
The first product to be associated with genetic doping emerged in the run-up to the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, where repoxygen - a new gene-based therapy against anaemia - was discussed as a substance that might make an appearance at the Games.
