This is an Editor’s Note regarding: Davide Melisi, Qianghua Xia, Genni Paradiso, Jianhua Ling, Tania Moccia, Carmine Carbone, Alfredo Budillon, James L. Abbruzzese, Paul J. Chiao, Modulation of Pancreatic Cancer Chemoresistance by Inhibition of TAK1, J Natl Cancer Inst, Volume 103, Issue 15, 3 August 2011, Pages 1190–1204, https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djr243.
In September 2024, a reader contacted the journal about similarities in the bands for beta-actin in Figure 1B and I. They also referred to a post on PubPeer (https://pubpeer.com/publications/CF2ADDEEA370F6E995F4D46ADB7B27). The Editors contacted the authors, who admitted the image in Figure 1B was reused in Figure 1I. They explained that the experimental conditions evaluated in 1B and I were identical. These figures represent the expression of TAK1 (Figure 1B) and cIAP-2, cleaved Caspase 3, cleaved PARP1, and TAK1 (Figure 1I) in protein samples extracted from the same cells under identical TAK1 expression conditions. Consequently, the beta-actin loading control image used in both panels was derived from the same blot, as these were not separate biological replicates. When the research was conducted, they deemed it unnecessary to run a separate blot for the beta-actin loading control.
The Editors disagree that a separate blot for beta-actin was unnecessary and advise readers to be cautious when interpreting these results.
All authors were notified that this Editor’s Note was being published but the journal could not find contact information for Genni Paradiso.