Three more Bulfone-Paus retraction notices out, in Journal of Immunology

The retraction notices for papers by Silvia Bulfone-Paus continue to appear. Yesterday, the Journal of Immunology posted notices for these three previously accepted retractions by the researcher, work at whose Borstel Centre lab is under investigation for misconduct.

• The IL-15 receptor alpha chain signals through association with Syk in human B cells (2001, cited 58 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge):

We wish to retract the article titled “The IL-15Ra Chain Signals Through Association with Syk in Human B Cells” by Elena Bulanova, Vadim Budagian, Thomas Pohl, Hans Krause, Horst Du¨rkop, Ralf Paus, and Silvia Bulfone-Paus, The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 167: 6292–6302.

This retraction follows a formal investigation by the Research Center Borstel into scientific misconduct. The main findings of the investigation were the following:

1) Fig. 5B and Fig. 8A (third panel from top) are identical.
2) Fig. 8A (uppermost panel) is identical to Fig. 8B (top panel).

The first two authors declined to sign this Letter of Retraction. The key experiments of these figures were recently reproduced. Although the results confirmed the experimental data and the conclusions drawn in the publication, all the other authors retract this paper in its entirety and regret any adverse consequences that may have resulted from the paper’s publication.

• Murine mast cells.express novel functional IL-15Rα isoforms (2003, cited 32 times):

We wish to retract the article titled “Mast Cells Express Novel Functional IL-15 Receptor a Isoforms” by Elena Bulanova, Vadim Budagian, Zane Orinska, Hans Krause, Ralf Paus, and Silvia Bulfone-Paus, The Journal of Immunology, 2003, 170: 5045–5055.

This retraction follows a formal investigation by the Research Center Borstel into scientific misconduct. The main findings of the investigation were the following:

1) Fig. 4A: In the middle panel (“Membrane”), a specific band (lane 2) is artificially enhanced when compared to the raw data. The raw data of Fig. 4A were also used in Fig. 9A. However, the findings of Fig. 9A were independently shown in Fig. 9C (raw data available).

2) Fig. 4B: The data shown in lanes 1, 2, and 3 of “IL-15RaD3,4,5” are identical to the data shown in lanes 1, 2, and 3 of “IL-15RaD4”.

The first two authors declined to sign this Letter of Retraction. Although recent repetitions of experiments in Fig. 4B confirm the reproducibility of the experimental data and conclusions, all the other authors retract the paper in its entirety. We deeply regret these irregularities and any adverse consequences that may have resulted from the paper’s publication and apologize to the scientific community.

• Extracellular ATP induces cytokine expression and apoptosis through P2X7 receptor in murine mast cells (2005, cited 46 times):

We wish to retract the article titled “Extracellular ATP Induces Cytokine Expression and Apoptosis through P2X7 Receptor in Murine Mast Cells” by Elena Bulanova, Vadim Budagian, Zane Orinska, Martina Hein, Frank Petersen, Lutz Thon, Dieter Adam, and Silvia Bulfone-Paus, The Journal of Immunology, 2005, 174: 3880–3890.

This retraction follows a formal investigation by the Research Center Borstel into scientific misconduct. The main findings of the investigation were the following:

1) Fig. 3: Although in principle the reported results are correct, the error bars could not be verified on the basis of the raw data.

2) Fig. 4: The figure seems to contain several severe manipulations. Various raw data are not available. Independent repetitions of the experiments shown in Fig. 4B regarding BMMC and MC/9 (left and middle panels) confirmed the original data in principle.

The first two authors declined to sign this Letter of Retraction. All the other authors wish to retract the article. We deeply regret these irregularities and apologize to the scientific community for any inconvenience this might cause.

We have the same questions we did about yesterday’s retraction notice in EMBO Journal: Did the editors of the Journal of Immunology see evidence that the results were confirmed? And if so, do the authors plan to resubmit it to a different journal?

We have contacted the Journal of Immunology’s editor, and Bulfone-Paus, and will update with anything we hear back.