A fifth retraction for former Pitt and Hopkins oncology researcher Getzenberg

A cancer researcher whose work was the subject of a lawsuit has retracted his fifth paper, this one from 2004.

Robert Getzenberg, formerly of the University of Pittsburgh and Johns Hopkins, has had two papers on prostate cancer biomarkers retracted, and two on colon cancer. The newly retracted paper is about a potential bladder cancer biomarker.

Here’s the notice from Clinical Cancer Research:

The authors wish to retract the article entitled “Functional Characterization of the Bladder Cancer Marker, BLCA-4,” which was published in the February 15, 2004, issue of Clinical Cancer Research (1).

The studies described in the article used a cDNA sequence that, at the time of publication, the authors believed to encode BLCA-4. Although this is still likely the case, there currently exists some uncertainty about whether the cDNA sequence indeed encoded this protein. The work described in the article is fully supported, but the conclusions reached may differ based on this potential. The authors apologize for any inconvenience.

The paper has been cited 31 times, according to Thomson Scientific’s Web of Knowledge.

The company that funded the work that led to one of the prostate cancer papers sued Pitt and Hopkins. The suit was eventually settled. Getzenberg left Hopkins in the middle of last year, and is apparently working at GTx, a Memphis, Tennesseee-based biotech company.

Hat tip: Rolf Degen