Novel biomarkers can help detect illegal blood doping in athletes

Increasing oxygen delivery to muscles can help athletes perform better and give them the edge needed to win elite competitions. This can be done through illegal ‘blood doping’: undergoing a blood transfusion for extra red blood cells to boosts oxygen levels. While some transfusions are identifiable with current testing methods, autologous blood transfusion (ABT) is not. A new report looks at novel biomarkers to identify potential new testing protocols for ABT.