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. 2014 Apr 10:5:50.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2014.00050. eCollection 2014.

The impact of genetics and hormonal contraceptives on the steroid profile in female athletes

Jenny J Schulze  1 , Jenny E Mullen  1 , Emma Berglund Lindgren  2 , Magnus Ericsson  1 , Lena Ekström  1 , Angelica Lindén Hirschberg  2
Affiliations

The impact of genetics and hormonal contraceptives on the steroid profile in female athletes

Jenny J Schulze et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

The steroid module of the Athlete Biological Passport, the newest innovation in doping testing, is currently being finalized for implementation. Several factors, other than doping, can affect the longitudinal steroid profile. In this study, we investigated the effect of hormonal contraceptives (HC) as well as the effect of three polymorphisms on female steroid profiles in relation to doping controls. The study population consisted of 79 female elite athletes between the ages of 18 and 45. HC were used by 32% of the subjects. A full urinary steroid profile was obtained using World Anti-Doping Agency accredited methods. In addition all subjects were genotyped for copy number variation of UGT2B17 and SNPs in UGT2B7 and CYP17. Subjects using HC excreted 40% less epitestosterone as compared to non-users (p = 0.005) but showed no difference in testosterone excretion. When removing individuals homozygous for the deletion in UGT2B17, the testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E) ratio was 29% higher in the HC group (p = 0.016). In agreement with previous findings in men, copy number variation of UGT2B17 had significant effect on female urinary testosterone excretion and therefore also the T/E ratio. Subjects homozygous for the T allele of CYP17 showed a lower urinary epitestosterone concentration than the other CYP17 genotypes. It is of great importance that the athlete's steroidal passport can compensate for all possible normal variability in steroid profiles from women. Therefore, considering the large impact of HC on female steroid profiles, we suggest that the use of HC should be a mandatory question on the doping control form.

Keywords: CYP17; T/E ratio; UGT2B17; doping in sports; epitestosterone; genetic polymorphism; hormonal contraceptives; testosterone doping.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Urinary epitestosterone concentration in elite female athletes not taking hormonal contraceptives (non-HC) as compared to those on HC. (B) T/E ratio for the same athletes after removing the UGT2B17 del/del individuals (N = 6).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A) The urinary epitestosterone concentration for elite female athletes divided in CYP17 genotypes and HC use. The CC and CT genotypes were combined to increase statistical power. (B) The urinary testosterone concentrations after removing the UGT2B17 del/del individuals.
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