[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 204 (Monday, October 24, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 61443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21150]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of the Secretary


Findings of Scientific Misconduct

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity 
(ORI) and the Acting Assistant Secretary for Health have taken final 
action in the following case:
    Xiaowu Li, MD, PhD, The University of California at San Francisco: 
On September 16, 2005, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) entered 
into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement with the University of California 
at San Francisco (UCSF) and Xiaowu Li, MD, PhD, former postdoctoral 
fellow at UCSF. Based on the UCSF report and additional analysis 
conducted by ORI in its oversight review, PHS found that Dr. Li engaged 
in scientific misconduct in reporting research supported by grants P01 
DE13904, ``Adhesion and proliferation in oral cancer progression,'' R01 
DE12856, ``Oral melanoma alpha v beta 3 expression and metastasis,'' 
and R01 DE011930, ``Regulatory function of fyn in oral SCC invasion,'' 
all funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial 
Research (NIDCR), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
    Specifically, PHS found that Dr. Li falsified three images in 
Figure 5B of a paper, ``Laminin-5 promotes cell motility by regulating 
the function of the integrin [alpha]6[beta]1 in pancreatic cancer,'' 
published online in Carcinogenesis Advance Access, reporting studies on 
the role of integrin [alpha]6[beta]1 and laminin on the invasiveness of 
pancreatic cancer cells and their ability to metastasize.
    In all three images, mouse melanoma cells were falsely represented 
as being human pancreatic carcinoma cells; the cancer cells were 
falsely represented as having been plated on medium with laminin-1, 
whereas they were in fact plated on medium with vitronectin; and for 
two of the three images, the cancer cells were falsely represented as 
having been stained with anti-integrin [beta]1, whereas they were 
actually stained with anti-integrin [beta]3.
    The misconduct was significant because pancreatic cancer has a poor 
prognosis for patients, since it tends to invade other tissues and to 
metastasize early in its course. Knowledge of the factors that 
facilitate cancer cell invasion and metastasis, which was the focus of 
the questioned figure and paper, is crucial to attempts to develop 
better treatments for pancreatic and other cancers. Thus, the falsified 
figure could have misled other investigators in this important area of 
medical research.
    Dr. Li has entered into a Voluntary Exclusion Agreement (Agreement) 
in which he has voluntarily agreed, for a period of three (3) years, 
beginning on September 16, 2005:
    (1) To exclude himself from any contracting or subcontracting with 
any agency of the United States Government and from eligibility or 
involvement in nonprocurement programs of the United States Government 
referred to as ``covered transactions'' as defined in the debarment 
regulations at 45 CFR Part 76; and
    (2) To exclude himself from serving in any advisory capacity to PHS 
including but not limited to service on any PHS advisory committee, 
board, and/or peer review committee, or as consultant.

For Further Information Contact: Director, Division of Investigative 
Oversight, Office of Research Integrity, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 
750, Rockville, MD 20852, (301) 443-5330.

Chris B. Pascal,
Director, Office of Research Integrity.
[FR Doc. 05-21150 Filed 10-21-05; 8:45 am]
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