Journal flags papers two years after university investigation finds researcher faked data

Nearly two years after a University of Liverpool investigation determined that a former researcher there fabricated his data, the journal Molecular Medicine has issued expressions of concern about four papers by that researcher.

As we reported in 2018, Daniel J. Antoine — once a promising young liver specialist — was found to have made up much of his spectroscopic findings. According to the university: 

Following a detailed investigation, the panel produced its final report in March 2018, which concluded that Dr Dan Antoine, who left the University of his own volition last year, was involved in research misconduct. It found that malpractice had directly influenced and undermined the findings of the research.

The four expressions of concern cite that investigation. For example, the notice for  “Redox modification of cysteine residues regulates the cytokine activity of high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1),” published in 2012, states: 

The Editors-in-Chief would like to alert readers that this article (Yang et al. 2012) is part of an investigation being conducted by the journal following the conclusions of an institutional enquiry at the University of Liverpool with respect to the quantitative mass spectrometry-generated results regarding acetylated and redox-modified HMGB1. Appropriate editorial action will be taken once the investigation is concluded.

Huan Yang, Peter Lundbäck, Lars Ottosson, Helena Erlandsson-Harris, Emilie Venereau, Marco E. Bianchi, Yousef Al-Abed, Ulf Andersson, and Kevin J. Tracey agree to this editorial expression of concern.

Daniel J. Antoine has not responded to any correspondence from the editor/publisher about this editorial expression of concern.

The original paper has been cited 280 times, according to Clarivate Analytics’ Web of Science.

The journal is also alerting readers about the 2014 article “The α7 nicotinic [which the retraction notice spelled “nicotine”] acetylcholine receptor agonist GTS-21 improves bacterial clearance in mice by restoring hyperoxia-compromised macrophage function”, the 2014 paper “High systemic [which the retraction notice spells “systematic”] levels of the cytokine-inducing HMGB1 isoform secreted in severe macrophage activation syndrome”, and the 2010 article “Diet restriction inhibits apoptosis and HMGB1 oxidation and promotes inflammatory cell recruitment during acetaminophen hepatotoxicity [which the retraction notice spells “hepatoxicity]”.

The Journal of Clinical Investigation last year issued an expression of concern for a 2018 paper by Antoine and colleagues, which stated:

An investigative committee at the University of Liverpool recently identified evidence of data fabrication relating to the mass spectrometry data contributed by Daniel J. Antoine, shown in Figures 3B and 5A of this paper. The Editorial Board is issuing this Expression of Concern to alert readers to this problem. No issues have been raised in regard to any of the other data in this manuscript.

The journal also posted a correction for the paper at the same time.

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