EXPRESSION OF CONCERN: Nitropravastatin Stimulates Reparative Neovascularisation and Improves Recovery from Limb Ischaemia in Type-1 Diabetic Mice

Abstract

Expression of Concern: C. Emanueli, A. Monopoli, N. Kraenkel, M. Meloni, S. Gadau, I. Campesi, E. Ongini, and P. Madeddu, “ Nitropravastatin Stimulates Reparative Neovascularisation and Improves Recovery from Limb Ischaemia in Type-1 Diabetic Mice,” British Journal of Pharmacology 150, no. 7 (2007): 873–882, https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjp.0707142

This Expression of Concern is for the above article, published online on 12 March 2007, in Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/), and has been issued by agreement between the journal Editor-in-Chief, Péter Ferdinandy; the British Pharmacological Society; and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The publisher received a report from a third party which indicated that two of the actin bands in Figure 5A showed evidence of splicing and duplication. An investigation by the publisher also detected these same concerns. The authors responded to an inquiry by the publisher and confirmed this duplication, as well as an additional error in Figure 6 where the Akt panels for pravastatin and NCX6550 had been swapped. The authors provided examples of the original western blot data and the densitometry data for the representative western blot images. They also requested a correction, to replace the erroneous images in Figures 5A and 6 with corrected representative western blots.

A review of these data by the journal editors found that, while the provided western blot data corresponded with the results presented in the article, the error bar of the published Statin graph in Figure 5B appeared to not match the quantification presented in the article. Additional concerns were raised that other data were included in the summary bar graph in addition to what was shown by the two representative immunoblots, but this was not clear based on the data provided. In response, the authors stated that the quantification shown in the graph should not be expected to derive from the densitometry data extracted from two samples based on other studies conducted at the author's institution during this period. However, original experimental records and data which would support this claim were no longer available due to the age of the article.

The parties have agreed that, based on the available data, they were not able to validate the data in Figure 5. Publishing a correction to replace the immunoblots in Figures 5A and 6 with corrected data was therefore not considered appropriate. The journal decided to issue this Expression of Concern to inform and alert the readers of the results of the investigation.

Author C. Emanueli disagrees with the Expression of Concern and stated that the densitometry performed on the provided bands was consistent with the published data, even though statistical significance was not achieved. Author P. Madeddu stated that the error had a minor impact on the main message considering that the key scientific data were confirmed later by other independent publications and that he has taken note of the exchange of correspondence regarding the case and stated his appreciation for the attempts of Prof. Emanueli and Dr. Meloni in searching for available data and trying to amend any possible error many years after publication. P. Madeddu further stated his support for the adoption of technology, not available to the authors at the time of publication of the article, which could help authors and reviewers in detecting errors of this kind during the revision stage. Authors N. Kraenkel, M. Meloni, S. Gadau, and I. Campesi were informed of the Expression of Concern. All other authors either could not be contacted or had passed away prior to the publication of the Expression of Concern.