Automation of RNA-Based Biomarker Extraction From Dried Blood Spots for the Detection of Blood Doping

Abstract

<b>Aim:</b> Transcriptomic biomarkers originating from reticulocytes measured in dried blood spots (DBSs) may be reliable indicators of blood doping. <b>Methods/results:</b> Here, we examined changes in the expression levels of the erythropoiesis-related <i>ALAS2</i>, <i>CA1</i> and <i>SLC4A1</i> genes in DBS samples from elite athletes and volunteers of clinical study with recombinant erythropoietin dose. <b>Conclusion:</b> By comparing the mean intraday coefficients of variation for <i>ALAS2L</i>, <i>ALASLC</i>, <i>CA1</i> and <i>SLC4A1</i> between manual and automated RNA extractions, an average improvement was observed, whereas the assessment of interday variability provided comparable results for both manual and automated approaches. Our results confirmed that RNA biomarkers on DBS support are efficient to detect blood doping.