ArticleAnalytical and bioanalytical chemistry2026
Direct LC-HRMS/MS characterisation and RT-qPCR detection for potential mRNA-based doping agent.
Article in Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) therapeutics offer unprecedented potential for in vivo protein expression but raise emerging risks of misuse for gene doping. We investigated an online-available product purported to be codon-optimised, 5-methoxyuridine-substituted human erythropoietin (EPO) mRNA and developed a corresponding detection assay for equine anti-doping. Product identity was verified using a mass spectrometry (MS)-based bottom-up workflow comprising RNase 4 digestion, liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem MS analysis, and automated sequence mapping against an mRNA database of potential doping genes. This workflow enabled direct detection of base modifications and achieved mean sequence coverage above 74%, verifying the mRNA sequence and its chemical composition. Method optimisation shows that partial RNase 4 digestion with a 10-min incubation time produced more consistent coverage by generating longer, informative oligoribonucleotides. The enhanced consistency would be advantageous for single-analysis scenarios typical of doping investigations. Building on the verified product identity, we developed a corresponding reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay for equine plasma. We explored the simple use of naked mRNA for matrix spiking as a reference material for doping control analysis. The method was validated with a limit of detection at 1250 copies/mL of EPO mRNA in equine plasma. In addition to EPO mRNA, the combined MS and RT-qPCR approach provides a practical framework that can be extended for surveillance of emerging mRNA-based agents in sport.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42065780What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.