Synthesis and characterization of the N-terminal acetylated 17-23 fragment of thymosin beta 4 identified in TB-500, a product suspected to possess doping potential

Drug Test Anal. 2012 Sep;4(9):733-8. doi: 10.1002/dta.1402. Epub 2012 Sep 7.

Abstract

The formulation TB-500 is suspected to be used as doping agent in sport. This work describes the detection and the identification of the N-terminal acetylated 17-23 fragment of human thymosin beta 4 (Ac-LKKTETQ) in TB-500 by means of high-performance liquid chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry using an Orbitrap Exactive benchtop mass spectrometer. Ac-LKKTETQ was also synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis, and an analytical strategy for detection in plasma and urine by high-performance liquid chromatography/low resolution triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry was suggested.

MeSH terms

  • Acetylation
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / methods
  • Humans
  • Performance-Enhancing Substances / blood*
  • Performance-Enhancing Substances / chemistry
  • Performance-Enhancing Substances / urine*
  • Substance Abuse Detection / methods*
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods*
  • Thymosin / blood*
  • Thymosin / chemistry
  • Thymosin / urine*

Substances

  • Performance-Enhancing Substances
  • thymosin beta(4)
  • Thymosin