Biological Parameters Changes After Autologous Blood Transfusion of Red Blood Cells (200 Ml) in Healthy Volunteers.

Overview

The purpose of this study is to evaluate if differences between samples of subjects obtained before autologous blood transfusion or samples of non-transfused subjects and samples of subjects after autologous blood transfusion can be identified. Analyses performed will focus on the morphological and biochemical parameters of red blood cells and associated microparticles. The final goal would be to find markers of autologous blood transfusion, that could be used to identify such doping practice.

Methodology and study design: Pr Olivier Hermine, coordinator of the laboratory of Excellence GR-EX regrouping EFS (Etablissement Français du Sang) and INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale) partners, and leader of the Centre d'Investigation Clinique (CIC) Necker (Hospital Necker, Paris, France) will assure the promotion of the clinical study for Paris Hospital consortium AP-HP (assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris). To reproduce two potential scenarios of autologous transfusion by an athlete, 1 bag of blood packed red blood cells (after leuko deprivation and centrifugation) will be either stored at 4°C or frozen at -80°C after addition of 40% w/v glycerol. Reinfusion will be performed 31 days later. A clinical randomized double-blinded two-phase study will be conducted. Volunteers will be separated in 3 groups: * Group 1: Volunteers with regular sports activities without Autologous Blood Transfusion (ABT)T (n=10) * Group 2: Volunteers with regular sports activities receiving a 200ml ABT with refrigerated blood (n=10) * Group 3: Volunteers with regular sports activities receiving a 200ml ABT with frozen blood (n=10) To ensure volunteers safety, collection, preparation and pretransfusion blood testing will be performed by EFS (Versailles, France). ABT as well as collection of samples will be performed at the CIC Necker (Paris, France). Blood samples will be collected before blood removal, the day of the ABT just before reinfusion and after 3 hours, 8 hours, 24 hours and 48 hours post-ABT. To perform all the experiments 25ml blood (4x 5 ml BD Vacutainer EDTA tubes) will be taken at each time point: 1 will be dispatched to the French anti-doping laboratory (LADF) for haematological analysis (Orsay, France), 2 to the EFS (Créteil, France) for RBC and MPs morphological characterization and quantification (using antigen markers, band 3 on the surface of MPs), 2 to INTS for MPs isolation, characterization (band 3 on the surface of MPs and RBC) and for proteomic analysis and Western-Blot.