Recent advances in peptide analysis by LC-MS for doping controls

Doping with peptide-based drugs has gained more and more relevancy since the last decades. Thus, analytical methods are required to enable efficient sports drug testing for this class of prohibited substances. One of the most important tools for peptide analysis is the combination of liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Within this manuscript recent advances and developments in the analysis of peptide hormones by means of LC-MS are described with a special focus on the analysis of peptides and proteins according to the list prohibited substances in professional sport (e.g. insulins, growth hormone releasing peptides, IGF-I (and analogs), somatotropin etc.).