Researchers develop technology to detect HGH in urine

HERNDON, Va. – For years, human growth hormone has been considered one of the main banned substances used by athletes who want to build strength and avoid getting caught.

Now a company in Virginia says researchers who originally set out to work on diagnosis and treatment of cancer have developed a test that can find HGH in urine, something one anti-doping expert believes “could be a quantum leap forward” in the fight against drug use in sports.

Scientists from Italy and George Mason University have developed particles that can trap microscopic elements in fluid, and a company called Ceres Nanosciences owns the patent for the technology.

“No one’s ever been able to see HGH in urine at all, let alone collect it and analyze it,” Ceres Nanosciences CEO Thomas Dunlap said Friday.

Naturally produced in the pituitary gland, HGH stimulates liver and other tissues to secrete chemicals that stimulate growth. It is prescribed for children with growth issues and adults with pituitary gland problems.

At a congressional hearing in February, commissioners and union chiefs of the NFL, NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball told lawmakers they were hoping for a dependable way to detect HGH through a urine test. They would prefer that to a blood test, which is more invasive and which can only detect HGH use over a 24- to 48-hour period.

Dunlap thinks he is on the way to providing a test that could detect HGH longer after its use and has been in touch with the World Anti-Doping Agency.