A paper on a new biomarker cancer who led a company to pursue two major universities for scientific fraud has been retracted by the authors because they could not verify the data.
Published in Urology in April 07 by a researcher from Johns Hopkins University Robert Getzenberg and his team, the paper reported that a new protein in the blood could be used as a test sensitive to detect early prostate cancer. Two years later, a company called Onconome which helped fund the study and related research continued Hopkins, Getzenberg and his former institution, the University of Pittsburgh, alleging that the biomarker test was "essentially as reliable as flipping a coin. "the parties have reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount in 2010.
Now it came to light (due to withdrawal shows) that Getzenberg and his co- authors retracted the paper Urology 3 October. (the date is not on the redemption notice on Urology website of, but Hopkins confirmed.) notice indicates that the conclusions of the paper "can be unreliable." the authors rereviewed data and found "differences" between certain values and those reported in the paper. because of this and other problems, "inconsistencies in the validation data collection and registration justify the withdrawal of the article, "said the notice.
When asked if Hopkins has investigated the matter, the spokesman Gary Stephenson emailed a statement saying that the university "takes the circumstances that led to the retraction extremely seriously. Although internal investigations of this kind that could be triggered by the issues raised are confidential, we emphasize that issues of research integrity are at the heart of our mission. "in general, university does not comment on research misconduct investigations, the statement said.
Getzenberg Hopkins remains on the faculty, the statement said. And he's still writing papers - he co-wrote last nine years, according to Pubmed. Getzenberg did not respond to an e-mail from Science Insider.
The complete statement of Hopkins reads:
We are aware that, at the request of Dr. Robert Getzenberg, review Urology October 3, 2011, retracted his manuscript entitled "EPCA-2. a highly specific serum marker for prostate cancer," Johns Hopkins University takes the circumstances that led to the retraction extremely seriously Although internal investigations of this kind that could be triggered. by the questions that have been raised are confidential, we emphasize that issues of research integrity are at the heart of our mission and we are committed to ensuring that all research conducted under the auspices of the University Johns Hopkins are conducted with ethical and highest scientific standards.
in general, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine neither confirms nor denies the existence of public research misconduct investigations nor releasing details to the public. Exceptions may be made on a base case by case, if warranted. Beyond that, we have no additional information at this time and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further. Dr. Getzenberg remains on the faculty.
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