Retraction of: The EMBO Journal (2004) 23: 1598–1608. DOI: 10.1038/sj.emboj.7600157
The above article from The EMBO Journal, published online on 25 March 2004, has been retracted by agreement between the authors and the journal Chief Editor and Head of Scientific Publications, EMBO, Bernd Pulverer. The authors' statement follows.
A number of image aberrations in this paper were brought to our attention. Following our own investigation and an institutional investigation by the University of Tokyo, we have concluded that the following issues necessitate retraction of the paper:
Fig 1C/Fig 3B: Lane 6, Fig 1C and lane 6, Fig 3B are duplicated.
Fig 4A: Several bands are duplicated, and several lanes contain no signal.
Fig 5C: One band was duplicated five times and rotated.
Fig 6B/D: Multiple band duplications and several lanes without signal.
Since these facts have undermined the integrity of the presented findings, we wish to retract this paper and deeply regret that these misleading data were published and the resulting negative impact on the scientific community.