NEUROBIOLOGY Retraction for “A new mechanism of neurodegeneration: A proinflammatory cytokine inhibits receptor signaling by a survival peptide,” by Homer D. Venters, Qingsong Tang, Qiang Liu, Roger W. VanHoy, Robert Dantzer, and Keith W. Kelley, which appeared in issue 17, August 17, 1999, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (96:9879–9884).
The editors wish to note that Homer D. Venters submitted a letter to PNAS on December 1, 2008 that stated, “Based on findings by the Office of Research Integrity, it is apparent that bands from a single experiment were presented as from separate experiments in two figures. The manner in which data were stored, scanned, and presented cannot be relied on. I take sole responsibility for these data and request that Figures 3 and 4 be retracted.” Figures 3 and 4 are hereby retracted.
The editors also wish to note that the other authors of the PNAS article (Qingsong Tang, Qiang Liu, Roger W. VanHoy, Robert Dantzer, and Keith W. Kelley) have submitted the following statement to PNAS: “Figures 1, 2, and 5 establish that both IGF-I neuroprotection and induction of IRS-2-precipitable phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase enzymatic activity are inhibited by TNF-α. The validity of this conclusion is not challenged by retraction of Figures 3 and 4, and the abstract stands correct. The co-authors also wish to emphasize that the results in Figures 3 and 4 of the original publication have been successfully replicated (n = 3; P < 0.001) independently of Venters. These data confirm that TNF-α inhibits IGF-I-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-2 in murine cerebellar granular neurons. The conclusion that TNF-α inhibits tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS proteins in response to survival peptides in many other types of cells has been confirmed independently by a number of laboratories [e.g., de Alvaro C, et al. (2004) J Biol Chem 279:17070–17078; Aguirre V, et al. (2000) J Biol Chem 275:9047–9054; Rosenzweig T, et al. (2002) Diabetes 51:1921–1930; Broussard SR, et al. (2003) Endocrinology 144:2988–2996; Shen WH, et al. (2002) Cancer Res 62:4746–4756)].”
Venters' request for retraction of Figures 3 and 4 is part of a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement that Venters entered into with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through the Public Health Service and the Office of Research Integrity in the case of Homer D. Venters, Jr., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The specific terms of the Agreement between Venters and HHS are published in the Notice of Findings of Scientific Misconduct from HHS [73 Federal Register 238 (December 10, 2008/Notices), pp 75119–75120].
Randy Schekman, Editor-in-Chief, PNAS