The technique will enable sporting drugs officials to distinguish between the presence of naturally occurring human steroids and those that have been synthetically manufactured.
Although synthetic and naturally occurring steroids are similar, they differ in the ratio of 'heavy' carbon to 'light' carbon they contain. However, measuring this carbon ratio has previously been extremely difficult because the molecules react too aggressively with laboratory instruments to allow accurate analysis.
The new approach, developed by scientists from Imperial College London and the University of Nottingham, allows easy analysis of the carbon ratio. It uses a catalytic reaction to strip steroids of their more aggressive parts whilst leaving the carbon 'skeleton' intact. This technique, called hydropyrolysis, is commonly used to aid oil exploration by freeing small fragments of organic matter from petroleum rock sources.
Dr Mark Sephton, from Imperial's Department of Earth Science and Engineering and lead author of the research, explained: "The type of carbon in the body's molecules reflects the carbon ingested as part of an athlete's diet, and if you can work out the carbon ratio in the molecules you can determine the source of the carbon.
"Drug cheats should beware. The carbon-based secrets of steroids are now apparent to the analyst. Thanks to our technique, in the future it will be much more difficult to escape detection when using performance-enhancing steroids", he added.
The researchers have so far been working on pure samples of steroid molecules and their next step is to extend the work onto samples taken from the body. The process will be ready for use in the sporting environment once this work has been completed.
imperial.ac
Of the patients with NDM, 3.1 percent (41) died of prostate cancer versus 2.4 percent (5) of patient with DM-II. "Although men with type II diabetes did not have significantly different treatment outcomes, having the disease had a detrimental effect on overall survival," said Nguyen.
Of the men without diabetes, 19.1 percent (250) died from all causes, compared to 22.8 percent (47) deaths overall for those with DM-II. This result was statistically significant even after adjusting for the key pretreatment factors.
Nguyen, now a radiation oncologist at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn., concluded, "The degree of hyperinsulinemia in type II diabetes can vary considerably and may obscure the true impact of insulin on the natural history of prostate cancer. Despite laboratory and epidemiological data suggesting an effect of insulin on prostate cancer growth, in our patient cohort, diabetes did not appear to influence the aggressiveness of prostate cancer at presentation.
"However, type II diabetes conferred a significantly higher overall mortality. Aggressive management of diabetes with diet, exercise, and medications may improve the survival of cancer patients."
fccc/