Word: myostatin
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...single gene injected into the monkeys was coded for the naturally occurring protein follistatin, which blocks the function of another protein called myostatin that hinders muscle growth. Past research in mice that were genetically engineered to have an extra copy of the follistatin-producing gene has shown that blocking myostatin, by increasing follistatin, causes muscles to bulk up fast. What Kaspar and his team found was that the same effect could be achieved simply by injecting genes - ferried aboard a small, non-disease-causing virus known as AAV, or adeno-associated virus - into the muscle. They further discovered that once...
...findings got headlines, not least because they immediately raised the possibility of power-hungry athletes someday using gene doping to improve performance - a technique that would be much harder to detect than using performance-enhancing drugs. And while myostatin-blocking drugs are not yet available, the pharmaceutical companies Amgen and Wyeth are currently experimenting with myostatin inhibitors, with encouraging early results, and it's clearly something that antidoping agencies around the world are concerned about. The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned gene doping, and included "agents modifying myostatin function(s)" on its list of prohibited substances...
Scientists do not yet know whether myostatin-related gene therapy will even work in humans. Given the financial and regulatory hurdles to launching a first-phase trial, it could take years and several million dollars before researchers could replicate their animal findings in people. But advances like the muscle trial in monkeys help attract funds - largely from advocacy groups like the Muscular Dystrophy Association and charitable organizations founded by patient families, as well as drug companies and the federal government - to a field that has until now been somewhat better known for its failures. In 2003, for instance, two French...
...concerns of safety when outlawing performance-enhancing substances—in the future, it may not be so easy. A new generation of enhancers is on the horizon that will make the current batch look like child’s play. Powerful genetic therapies like IGF-I injections and myostatin blockers promise to fuel the athletes of tomorrow with few negative consequences. Meanwhile, with geneticists identifying correlates of mental attributes and millions of research dollars being poured into drugs that halt cognitive decline, minds as well as bodies are becoming open to augmentation...
Science seems to back him up. Even among purebloods of impeccable provenance, it is nearly impossible to tell in advance which one holds the ultimate steak, for individual animals vary dramatically. Recent studies point to variations in genes for specific compounds like myostatin and calpain as factors in determining tenderness, but it would take between 20 and 40 years to breed toughness out of meat...