Retraction (2010)

The article “Induction of a gene expression program in dendritic cells with a cross-linking IgM antibody to the co-stimulatory molecule B7-DC,” by Frank A. Blocki, Suresh Radhakrishnan, Virginia P. Van Keulen, Karin L. Heckman, Bogoljub Ciric, Charles L. Howe, Moses Rodriguez, Eugene Kwon, and Larry R. Pease published as an FJ Express summary in the November 2006 print issue of The FASEB Journal (20:13 2408–2410, doi: 10.1096/fj.06-6171fje) and as an FJ Express full-length article on The FASEB Journal's web site (http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/full/20/13/2408) has been retracted by the authors for reasons cited in the following statement from the article's corresponding author. All versions of this article have been removed from The FASEB Journal's web site. Author statement: I would like to retract the manuscript entitled “Induction of a gene expression program in dendritic cells with a cross-linking IgM antibody to the co-stimulatory molecule B7-DC,” published in The FASEB Journal. Authors listed are: Frank Blocki, Suresh Radhakrishnan, Virginia Van Keulen, Karin L Heckman, Bogoljub Ciric, Charles L Howe, Moses Rodriguez, Eugene Kown, and me as corresponding author. The paper was published as an FJ express full length article in Vol 20, pages E1780–E1789:2006. A series of events, including suspicious experimental findings that were suggestive of experimental tampering, led to a dedicated re-examination of key findings underlying the reported conclusions that B7-DCXAb is an immune modulatory reagent. Using blinded protocols we re-examined experiments purported to demonstrate the activation of dendritic cells, activation of cytotoxic T cells, induction of tumor immunity, modulation of allergic responses, breaking tolerance in the RIP-OVA diabetes model, and the reprogramming of Th2 and T regulatory cells. Some of these repeated studies were direct attempts to reproduce key findings in the manuscript cited above. In no case did these repeat studies reveal any evidence that the B7-DCXAb reagent had the previously reported activity. In the course of this re-examination, we were able to study all the antibodies used in the various phases of our work spanning the last ten years. None of these antibodies appears to be active in any of our repeat assays. We do not believe something has happened recently to the reagent changing its potency. In a formal investigation, a key member of the B7-DCXAb investigating team, Dr. Suresh Radhakrishnan, was found to have tampered with another investigator's unpublished experiment with the intent to mislead toward the conclusion that the antibody had dendritic cell activating properties. This finding of scientific misconduct has been reported by the appropriate institutional officer to the Office of Research Integrity at the Public Health Service. Recommended administrative actions in the report to the ORI include retraction of all work that could not be reproduced in the course of the investigation. These events, particularly our inability to repeat key aspects of the reported experiments using blinded protocols, have undermined our confidence in the data reported on the immune modulatory activity of B7-DCXAb. Therefore, I seek to retract all the manuscripts published on this topic based on our inability to reproduce key aspects of the studies. Among the papers to be retracted [listed below] is the study cited above.