A researcher at the University of Kentucky who studies the cancer risks of toxic chemicals has retracted three papers.
All of the retraction notices, which appear in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, refer to some kind of image duplication. The papers were originally published between 2014 and 2017, with the 2014 paper cited 39 times, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science.
The papers all share authors Young-Ok Son, Poyil Pratheeshkumar, Zhuo Zhang and Xianglin Shi. All of the researchers work in the department of toxicology and cancer biology at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, and Son is also based at the National Creative Research Initiatives Center for Osteoarthritis Pathogenesis and School of Life Sciences at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea. Two of the notices say that
The corresponding author identified some issues and brought them to the attention of the Journal.
Here are the three papers:
- Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 enhances carcinogenesis by suppressing apoptosis and promoting autophagy in nickel-transformed cells
- Antioncogenic and oncogenic properties of Nrf2 in arsenic-induced carcinogenesis
- Nrf2/p62 signaling in apoptosis resistance and its role in cadmium-induced carcinogenesis
As an example, here is the retraction notice for the last paper:
This article has been withdrawn by the authors. The corresponding author identified some issues and brought them to the attention of the Journal. The following issues were discovered in the article. Lanes 1–3 were duplicated in lanes 5–6 of the c-caspase 3 immunoblot in Fig. 2C. The Nrf2 immunoblot from BEAS-2B cells from Fig. 5D was reused in Fig. 8A. In Fig. 8C, the first two lanes of the p62 ARE F1 and the β-actin gels were duplicated. Additionally, lanes 1 and 8 of the p62 ARE F4 gel were duplicated. In Fig. 9C, lanes 2 and 5 of the Bcl-xL ARE R1 gel were duplicated. In Fig. 9F, lanes 1 and 2were reused in lanes 5 and 6 of the Bcl-2 ARE F1 gel. In Fig. 11B, lanes 3 and 5 of the Nrf2 immunoblot were duplicated. Additionally, lanes 4 and 6 of the lower bands in the LC3 immunoblot were duplicated. In Fig. 11C, the SOD1 immunoblot was reused as the SOD2.
Work for all three papers was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Shi, who is listed as corresponding author or co-corresponding author on all three papers, and still a professor at the University of Kentucky, did not respond to a request for comment.
Asked whether the university is investigating, a spokesperson tells us that the university is aware of the retractions but “not able to provide more information at this time.”
Shi is principal investigator of a 5-year, $7.4 million grant awarded to the University of Kentucky last year from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to establish the UK Center for Appalachian Research in Environmental Sciences (UK-CARES).
Please see an update on this post.
Like Retraction Watch? You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support our growth, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, add us to your RSS reader, sign up for an email every time there’s a new post (look for the “follow” button at the lower right part of your screen), or subscribe to our daily digest. If you find a retraction that’s not in our database, you can let us know here. For comments or feedback, email us at [email protected].
Toxicol Sci. 2010 Jan;113(1):127-37. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfp259. Epub 2009 Nov 3.
Cadmium induces intracellular Ca2+- and H2O2-dependent apoptosis through JNK- and p53-mediated pathways in skin epidermal cell line.
Son YO1, Lee JC, Hitron JA, Pan J, Zhang Z, Shi X.
Author information
1
Graduate Center for Toxicology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0305, USA.
Figure 8C. https://imgur.com/9GflG5m
Toxicol Sci. 2011 Feb;119(2):335-45. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kfq335. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
The dual roles of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase signaling in Cr(VI)-induced apoptosis in JB6 cells.
Son YO1, Hitron JA, Cheng S, Budhraja A, Zhang Z, Lan Guo N, Lee JC, Shi X.
Author information
1
Graduate Center for Toxicology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0305, USA.
See: https://imgur.com/aevMh5K
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2011 Sep 15;255(3):287-96. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2011.06.024. Epub 2011 Jul 13.
Cadmium induces autophagy through ROS-dependent activation of the LKB1-AMPK signaling in skin epidermal cells.
Son YO1, Wang X, Hitron JA, Zhang Z, Cheng S, Budhraja A, Ding S, Lee JC, Shi X.
Author information
1
Graduate Center for Toxicology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536-0305, USA.
Figure 4. https://imgur.com/jfSKEqo
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2011 Oct 15;256(2):114-21. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2011.07.016. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Reactive oxygen species mediate arsenic induced cell transformation and tumorigenesis through Wnt/β-catenin pathway in human colorectal adenocarcinoma DLD1 cells.
Zhang Z1, Wang X, Cheng S, Sun L, Son YO, Yao H, Li W, Budhraja A, Li L, Shelton BJ, Tucker T, Arnold SM, Shi X.
Author information
1
Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, University of Kentucky, 121 Washington Avenue, Lexington, KY 40536, USA.
Figure 2. Much more similar than you would expect, yet other elements different.
https://imgur.com/i84Cc4B
Br J Pharmacol. 2012 Mar;165(6):1813-1826. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.2011.01684.x.
1 comment on PubPeer (by: Herina Nigribasis)
Ursolic acid induces apoptosis in human leukaemia cells and exhibits anti-leukaemic activity in nude mice through the PKB pathway.
Gao N1, Cheng S1, Budhraja A1, Gao Z1, Chen J1, Liu EH1, Huang C1, Chen D1, Yang Z1, Liu Q1, Li P1, Shi X1, Zhang Z1.
Author information
1
Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, 3rd Military Medical University, Chongqing, ChinaGraduate Center for Toxicology, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KentuckyDepartment of Hematology, Southwest Hospital, 3rd Military Medical University, Chongqing, ChinaKey Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicines (China Pharmaceutical University), Ministry of Education, Nanjing, China.
Figure 2C. Some elements much more similar than you would expect, yet other elements different.
https://imgur.com/QcJZsEh
Nine papers from them have been flagged on PubPeer
If I was one of the innocent co-authors (if any), I would request transparency and an independent investigation.
Synergistic antileukemic interactions between 2-medroxyestradiol (2-ME) and histone deacetylase inhibitors involve Akt down-regulation and oxidative stress
Blood (2006) pubmed: 16141349 doi: 10.1182/blood-2005-06-2409 issn: 0006-4971 issn: 1528-0020
Ning Gao , Mohamed Rahmani , Xianglin Shi , Paul Dent , Steven Grant
Oops, I erred while transcribing the comment from PP: that should be one year ago.
With that particular paper, although Xianglin Shi is a third author, we should note that Dent and Grant (the last two authors) have featured at RetractionWatch before, most recently in 2016.
http://retractionwatch.com/2016/10/20/researcher-pegged-for-misconduct-in-11-papers-earns-2nd-retraction/
Blood does have a data integrity officer.
http://www.bloodjournal.org/page/about-blood/editorial-board-and-staff?sso-checked=true
Data Integrity Manager – Dax Blemberg
[email protected]
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29368435/?i=2&from=shi%20AND%20dipaola
Could someone take a look at this paper?
Dr Shi has a substantial record of past and current NIH funding.
Some of these grants and publications involves his former trainee and frequent collaborator Zhuo Zhang.
https://toxicology.med.uky.edu/users/zzhand#profileTab4
Drs Shi and Zhang also have publications and a recent R01 grant with the Dean of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Robert DiPaola.
To follow up on this post the 5 year $~1.8 million grant referred to in the above post was awarded to Drs Zhang and DiPaola in May of 2018 but then abruptly ended in September of 2018. Is it possible to find out why the grant ended so soon after it started?
1R01CA228236-01A1
TARGETING P62 AS A MORE OPTIMAL APPROACH TO INHIBIT AUTOPHAGY USING VERTEPORFIN AS A REPURPOSED THERAPEUTIC IN PROSTATE CANCER
https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_details.cfm?aid=9612925&icde=44210783
https://ukcares.med.uky.edu/administrative-core
Dr Shi is no longer the director of the University of Kentucky Environmental Sciences Core Center (the $7.4M award referenced in the original article above).
He is no longer listed as pi of the center grant in nih reporter
But he is still pi or mpi of 4 other active R01 grants
Drs Shi and DiPaola have another joint publication that lists the mysteriously terminated grant as support.
New developments in mechanisms of prostate cancer progression.
Howard N, Clementino M, Kim D, Wang L, Verma A, Shi X, Zhang Z, DiPaola RS.
Semin Cancer Biol. 2018 Sep 10. pii: S1044-579X(18)30079-8. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2018.09.003. [Epub ahead of print] Review.
PMID: 30213689
http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/78/13_Supplement/2895
They also have a published abstract together.