Editor’s Note: Targeting Primitive Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells by Effective Inhibition of a New AHI-1–BCR-ABL–JAK2 Complex

This is a second Editor’s Note regarding Min Chen, Paolo Gallipoli, Donna DeGeer, Ivan Sloma, Donna L. Forrest, Matthew Chan, Damian Lai, Heather Jorgensen, Ashley Ringrose, Hui Mi Wang, Karen Lambie, Helen Nakamoto, Kyi Min Saw, Ali Turhan, Ralph Arlinghaus, James Paul, Jon Stobo, Michael J. Barnett, Allen Eaves, Connie J Eaves, Tessa L. Holyoake, Xiaoyan Jiang, Targeting Primitive Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells by Effective Inhibition of a New AHI-1–BCR-ABL–JAK2 Complex, JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Volume 105, Issue 6, 20 March 2013, Pages 405–423, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djt006

In 2024, a reader contacted the journal about potential similarities between bands in Figure 3A, and the journal subsequently published an Editor’s Note about this paper.¹ In March 2026, the same reader contacted the journal with additional concerns about unexpected similarities in additional panels within Figure 3A (Actin and GAPDH), noting three areas of potential duplication. These concerns were also raised via PubPeer.

The Editors conducted an investigation in accordance with guidelines from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal contacted the authors about these new concerns and requested the full uncropped images of the Figure 3A blots in question. The corresponding author responded that the original research materials were no longer available due to academic record retention policies for up to ten years but noted that Figure 3A blots for Actin and GAPDH are loading controls and are expected to show similar band densities. Although the results shown in Figure 3A do not affect the primary conclusions of the article, the Editors advise readers to be cautious when interpreting these results.

The journal notified the authors of this decision prior to publication of this Editor’s Note. The journal was unable to find updated contact information for the third, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and twenty-first authors. The twentieth author is deceased.