Breast cancer researcher resigns

By MARTHA WAGGONER : Associated Press Writer
Jun 13, 2003 : 6:42 pm ET

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A leading cancer researcher from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has resigned amid accusations from colleagues he faked breast cancer findings, an allegation he disputed Friday.

Dr. Steven Leadon, who was a professor of radiation oncology and head of the university's molecular radiology program, said the case is about faulty data rather than outright lies.

A retraction of the 1998 research by Leadon appeared in Friday's edition of Science magazine. It said an ad hoc investigatory committee at the university found that Leadon, the last author of the five-author paper, had "fabricated and falsified research findings." The retraction did not specify what aspects of the research were alleged to be fabricated.

Leadon said in a telephone interview Friday that he did not blame anyone else for problems with the paper, which other researchers had cited because it seemed to help determine how a genetic defect causes breast cancer. But he denied findings were fabricated.

"The underlying issue is in the interpretation of how this whole thing has evolved," said Leadon, who has hired an attorney. "I mean, I took responsibility for anything that comes out of my lab. There's a distinction between fabricating and taking responsibility for it."

"I'm not trying to point the finger at anyone else. I'm not going to do what they're doing to me."

Leadon's 1998 paper showed that the BRCA1 gene is critical in repairing damaged DNA. Defects in the BRCA1 gene have been linked to breast cancer, and Leadon's research offered insight into how damaged genes are related to causing cancer.

Some of the paper's findings were valid, Science magazine said, but "the overall integrity of the paper cannot be supported and it should be retracted."

Leadon said he initiated the retraction "probably months ago," never imagining that his action eventually would lead to his resignation, which was effective April 1.

"We realized there was some faulty data in there" while doing further breast cancer research, Leadon said. "But we do stand by the basic observations."

Leadon also left his position as co-principal investigator of the Carolina Breast Cancer Study, a long-term government-funded study of thousands of people that seeks to discover the genetic causes of breast cancer.