http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/123/nation/Hepatitis_vaccine_data_faked+.sht

Hepatitis vaccine data faked
Coauthors retract research finding published in 2000
By Richard Saltus
Boston Globe Staff
5/3/2001    
   
A visiting Japanese scientist working at the National Cancer Institute has admitted that he rigged part of a vaccine research project and fabricated data, his coauthors say in a printed retraction of a report on the project.

The coauthors said they were unaware that the lead author, Tatsumi Arichi, had rigged the experiment by ''spiking'' a cell fluid with quantities of a virus to make it seem that the virus had grown in the cells. His coauthors called it a ''serious problem.

''The original paper describing the vaccine work appeared in the Jan. 4, 2000, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That paper said that a DNA vaccine being tested in mice in the experiment was a ''potential candidate'' for a vaccine to prevent hepatitis C, which affects about 4 million Americans. In the wake of that paper, scientists tried repeatedly to duplicate the results, but were unable to do so.

The retraction appeared this week on the journal's Web site, and will be published in the May 8 edition of the publication. Such retractions are occurring more frequently, said an official of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. But the increased frequency may reflect greater willingness to print retractions, rather than an increase in data fabrication, said Mark Frankel, director of the association's Program on Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and the Law.

''There were very, very, very few retractions based on misconduct until the 1990s,'' Frankel said in an interview. ''But the scientific community began to realize there's enough of this going on that we have some contaminated literature out there, and we don't want to waste time and resources'' attempting to duplicate research that was fabricated to begin with.

The authors of the retraction, including Arichi, said that ''we deeply regret to report that we have discovered'' that the vaccine data ''have been fabricated and the paper must be retracted.''  Dr. Arichi, the first author, has now admitted in writing that he spiked some of the ovary homogenates... with calculated quantities of stock virus, resulting in the titers [concentration] reported in the paper,'' said the retraction. The time frame wasn't clear, and officials of the cancer institute released little specific information.

In an e-mail response to a reporter's questions, the senior author of the original paper, Jay A. Berzofsky, said the matter is being investigated by the NIH Office of Research Integrity, which probes alleged research fraud and misconduct. The scientists were testing the ability of a DNA vaccine to block the hepatitis C virus. Because the hepatitis virus doesn't grow in mice, they used a virus called vaccinia to stand in for the hepatitis virus.Two groups of mice were given the vaccinia virus. Both were to become infected, and one of the groups of mice would get the preventive vaccine. The specific type of
vaccinia virus used in the experiment doesn't grow well in mice, said Berzofsky, so Arichi apparently ''spiked'' some fluid from the mice with vaccinia virus to make it seem the vaccinia virus had taken hold and was growing.In the wake of the published paper, Arichi's colleagues tried to repeat the experiment but could not get the vaccinia virus to grow in the mice, said Berzofsky.

''After we confronted Dr. Arichi, who was no longer at NIH, he admitted'' to spiking the cell fluids, Berzofsky said.Arichi worked at NIH from December 1995 through May 1999, said a spokeswoman for the National Cancer Institute. A spokesman for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said this was the first retraction of a paper this year. Last year there were four retractions, and there were two in 1999, said the spokesman.

Retractions can stem from honest mistakes in experiments, as well as data fabrication.

This story ran on page 4 of the Boston Globe on 5/3/2001.
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