Untargeted profiling of urinary steroid metabolites after testosterone ingestion: opening new perspectives for antidoping testing

Aim: Antidoping procedures are expected to greatly benefit from untargeted metabolomic approaches through the discovery of new biomarkers of prohibited substances abuse.

Results: Endogenous steroid metabolites were monitored in urine samples from a controlled elimination study of testosterone undecanoate after ingestion. A platform coupling ultra-high pressure LC with high-resolution quadrupole TOF MS was used and high between-subject metabolic variability was successfully handled using a multiblock data analysis strategy. Links between specific subsets of metabolites and influential genetic polymorphisms of the UGT2B17 enzyme were highlighted.

Conclusion: This exploratory metabolomic strategy constitutes a first step toward a better understanding of the underlying patterns driving the high interindividual variability of steroid metabolism. Promising biomarkers were selected for further targeted study.