隨著成功的人體基因治療臨床試驗，是否基因治療這項技術會被用來促進人類競技運動的表現，也就是所謂的基因禁藥，已受到國際體壇的重視，2003年世界運動禁藥組織已將基因禁藥列入禁藥清單中。基因傳遞進入體內的方式主要利用病毒載體或是非病毒載體，重組腺病毒相關病毒載體是目前基因治療最常使用的病毒載體，基因傳遞技術所面臨的挑戰在於進入體內後基因表現的穩定度及安全性。骨骼肌在運動時扮演相當重要的角色，同時也是基因治療或是基因禁藥的主要目標，以運動生理學的知識背景而言，具有提升氧氣的運送、增加葡萄糖代謝以產生足夠的能量、促進肌肉生長、提高肌肉強度與耐力及預防疼痛等相關生理功能的基因，都是基因禁藥的候選基因。過去的研究已在動物實驗證實使用基因禁藥後，除了對結構蛋白的生物功能產生改變之外，確實可以因此而促進運動表現。為了維護運動的公平性與運動員的健康，持續開發具有專一性、高敏感性、並能快速偵測各種可能基因禁藥的技術是需要長期發展與關注的課題。

Successful clinical trials of human gene therapy have raised a concern that whether gene therapy technique will be applied to promote athletic performance, so called gene doping, in the sport field. Since 2003, gene doping in sports has been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The delivery of gene into human body is via with either viral vector or non-viral vector. Recombinant adeno-associated viral vector is the most popular viral vector in gene therapy. The challenge of gene therapy is the stability and safety of gene expression. Skeleton muscle plays an important role in sports and also the major target of gene therapy or gene doping. Based on exercise physiology, those genes involved in increasing oxygen delivery, promoting glucose metabolism, enhancing muscle growth, strength and endurance, preventing pain etc. are candidates of gene doping. Previous animal studies have demonstrated that gene doping resulted in the changes of structures and compositions of many proteins, and promoted the exercise performance. For the fairness of sports and the health of athletes, continuous development of a specific, highly sensitive and quick detection method of gene doping is a long-term and attractive challenge.