Flawed 'game-changing' stem-cell study withdrawn

Wednesday 02 July 2014 14.29

Leading science journal Nature has withdrawn a flawed stem-cell study which was hailed as a "game-changer" in the quest to grow transplant tissue when it was published in January.

The decision was taken after mistakes were discovered in some data published in two papers, photograph captions were found to be misleading, and the work itself could not be repeated by other scientists, it said.

"All co-authors of both papers have finally concluded that they can not stand behind the papers, and have decided to retract them," the journal said in an editorial.

The controversy is the biggest in scientific publishing in a decade. Nature said it would tighten procedures to vet future studies submitted for publication.

On 4 June, Japan's Riken research institute said lead scientist Haruko Obokata had agreed to retract the papers after an investigation.

Riken was "still discussing" a retraction with co-author Charles Vacanti of Harvard University, a spokeswoman said at the time.

Ms Obokata was feted after unveiling findings that appeared to show a straight-forward way to reprogramme adult cells to become stem cells - precursors that are capable of developing into any other cell in the human body.

Identifying a readily-manufacturable supply of stem cells could one day help meet a need for transplant tissues, or even whole organs for transplant.

Read this article:
Flawed 'game-changing' stem-cell study withdrawn