Expression of Concern: Disruption of Platelet-derived Chemokine Heteromers Prevents Neutrophil Extravasation in Acute Lung Injury

The editors of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and the European Respiratory Journal have been alerted to the duplication of scanning electron microscopy images in three articles published in three separate journals. Figure 1C, top right panel, in the AJRCCM article “Disruption of Platelet-derived Chemokine Heteromers Prevents Neutrophil Extravasation in Acute Lung Injury” (1), also appears as Figure 2b in the ERJ article “Pioglitazone attenuates endotoxin-induced acute lung injury by reducing neutrophil recruitment” (2), and as Figure 2A, top right panel, in the PLoS One article “Simvastatin Reduces Endotoxin-Induced Acute Lung Injury by Decreasing Neutrophil Recruitment and Radical Formation” (3). In addition, Figure 2d in the ERJ article (2) was also published as Figure 2A, right column, middle row, in the PLoS One article (3).

The lead authors, Dr. Grommes and Dr. Soehnlein, have assured the AJRCCM and ERJ editors that this was an inadvertent (although inappropriate) use of identical images in the same control conditions and that there was no fraudulent intention; the authors wish to apologize for their mistake. The editors have jointly discussed this matter and have agreed that, as the duplicate images represent negative and positive control conditions, the results and conclusions of the studies were not affected by this issue. The editors would like to thank the authors for their prompt cooperation in this matter; they would also like to thank the reader who brought the duplicated panels to the attention of the journals.