Such things have happened before, says Liu, recalling the discussion surrounding the function of HER2, one of the human estrogen receptors. As it turned out, both conclusions were true, depending on the cellular circumstances. But there may be less esoteric reasons for the confusion as well. In the beginning of any endeavor, says Wen-Hwa Lee, there is very little known. The problem, he says, is that some scientists publish things in a hurry, and he worries that the high profile of this protein caused some to publish their work before it was complete.
People sometimes make premature claims, and that is always dangerous.
Of course, intense interest often invites intense scrutiny. In fact, in a flurry of letters in the July 1996 issue of Nature Genetics readers wrote about a number of technical problems they perceived in the various papers. Many of the letter writers expressed concern that the reagents used to detect BRCA1 in the cell were not specific enough. The reagents may have been detecting other proteins, giving a false impression of the locale of BRCA1. And he wonders whether in the flush of excitement over these papers, the journals might have relaxed their normally rigorous standards of review.