2023-04-23 11:15:20
In 2003, the threat was purely theoretical. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), still very young, then prohibited gene doping, but the alarm sounded only in the heads of a handful of experts. Professor in biotechnologies always on the bridge, Gérard Dine was one of them, and he hasn’t stopped repeating it since: “The threat is becoming clearer, and if no concrete case has yet been brought to light, the tools today do indeed exist. »
Two techniques are most often cited. The possibility, first, of injecting or introducing DNA or messenger RNA sequences into the body, a method known to the general public thanks to vaccines against Covid-19. This would allow, for example, the in vivo production of erythropoietin, the famous EPO which increases red blood cells and promotes blood oxygenation.
The other key tool is gene editing. Like a kind of scissors to directly manipulate genes. “We must no longer incorporate something external that does not exist in the structure of the cell nucleus, we intervene directly on the DNA of this structureexplains Gérard Dine. The advantage of these techniques is twofold: it is much more effective than traditional doping, and also much more difficult to detect. »
First tests still perfectible
WADA is obviously working to find a solution. The first tests are being developed, currently looking for revealing DNA sequences, in particular in the white blood cells of the athletes sampled. “About fifty tests were carried out at the last Games in Tokyo and Beijing, but they are not yet completely satisfactory.observes Jérémy Roubin, the secretary general of the French Agency for the fight against doping. However, starting to control can have a deterrent effect. »
WADA is often faced with a problem of resources in this area. Due to the staggering cost, generalizing genetic blood tests that are still in their infancy on a only diffuse threat is deemed inappropriate. The agency prefers to focus on research. “Our budget in this area is still modest, of course, around 4 million euros this year, but we are in an upward phase.indicates Olivier Rabin, the scientific director of the AMA. Another important point is our collaboration with pharmaceutical laboratories, with which we are in close contact, and which now alert us well in advance to their work. On gene therapies, we absolutely have to anticipate. »
It is a question of not renewing the ignition delays of the 1990s. “With EPO and growth hormones, it took more than 15 years for adequate responses to be put in place.emphasizes Gérard Dine. This is why today we need real awareness and mobilization. WADA hoped not to be overtaken on the subject, and intended to do so also position itself ethically. »
A blurred boundary between performance support and doping
Because work on genetics also allows a better understanding of the predisposition to performance, and we then speak of “genomics”. The interest is not small: to better identify the potential of such or such athlete in such or such specialty, to better apprehend the risks of injury, to direct training even more finely. Except that the border between performance support and doping then becomes very blurred.
“We are in fact talking about the same genetic tools, which can be used licitly or illicitlysupports Gérard Dine. There is currently an acceleration that disrupts the situation, and all the more so if we integrate artificial intelligence for the interpretation of data. If we want to avoid slippages, it is better to worry about all these subjects very quickly. » And if the preparation of champions, more and more precise by dint of exploring the genes, always makes it possible to go “higher, faster, stronger”, perhaps we should ask ourselves how far, but also , quite simply, why?
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