Word: muscularity
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...then, to using IGF-1 safely and effectively in muscular-dystrophy patients lies in getting enough of the hormone directly to the muscle. So Sweeney's group is perfecting a version of gene therapy, the most efficient way to dump a large amount of genetic material into a tissue as extensive as muscle (about 40% of body weight comes from muscle). He packs the IGF-1 gene into a harmless cold virus and injects the entire package directly into muscle. Once the IGF-1 gene inserts itself into the genome of the muscle cell, it begins to churn...
...sound like the routine of another conniving athlete preparing for Athens, but it's the way an 11-year-old boy in Menlo Park, Calif., is fighting muscular dystrophy. Starting in 2002, the youngster began taking low doses of albuterol, a popular asthma drug, as a participant in an experimental study at UCLA. The lead investigator of the trial got the idea for testing albuterol by searching the Internet for references to muscle-building drugs, which soon linked her to sites for body builders. The body builders had learned about the drug's effect from combing the journals of agricultural...
...Beijing Games in 2008, Sweeney predicts, athletes may be availing themselves of a genetic treatment designed for muscular dystrophy, years ahead of safety and efficacy trials, and years ahead of when patients may have access to the remedy. "I'm sure there are going to be scientists willing to set up illegal clinics to treat athletes who want genetic enhancement if they pay enough money," he says...
Because of their particular focus, muscular-dystrophy labs stand to provide a rich pipeline of potential doping agents. Muscular dystrophy is a genetic condition in which muscle can no longer repair the tiny abrasions that come from normal wear and tear, and begins to waste away. The disease mimics an exaggerated form of the stress that highly trained athletes inflict on their muscles. To restore the balance in favor of regeneration, researchers are isolating the myriad growth factors and other biochemical compounds that regulate the musclemaking factory...
...also trying to tip the balance by shutting down myostatin, a compound that inhibits IGF-1 activity in the muscle. The pharmaceutical maker Wyeth Ayerst is testing a myostatin blocker in early trials of healthy humans, and hopes that it may become a new treatment option for those with muscular dystrophy or for the elderly who have become frail from the normal muscle wasting that occurs with aging...