By Liam Mannix
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Several scientific papers by two of Australia’s leading cancer researchers are being investigated by the University of Newcastle after research integrity concerns were raised.
A paper co-authored by the pair was retracted in September after a review concluded some images purporting to show the results of different experiments were copies. A second paper has been corrected.
Professor Peter Hersey.
The retracted study was authored by Professor Peter Hersey and Professor Xu Dong Zhang in 2005, when both were based at the Newcastle Mater Misericordiae Hospital (now Calvary Mater Newcastle).
Hersey, who is now at the University of Sydney, has been involved in hundreds of papers and at least 50 human clinical trials and has pioneered treatments for melanoma. Zhang heads Newcastle’s Melanoma Research Centre and is described by his university as one of the world’s most eminent skin cancer researchers.
Zhang has received $6,093,479 in taxpayer-funded medical research grants as chief investigator, while Hersey has received $2,349,374.
Hersey did not respond to requests for comment, while Zhang referred questions to Newcastle University.
In September, FEBS Letters retracted a study by Hersey, Zhang and other researchers that was trying to unpick the basic mechanism for resistance to a potential treatment for melanoma.
The study includes images showing growing cancer cells and photos of “western blots”, a lab technique scientists use to identify proteins.
Professor Xu Dong Zhang
An investigation by the journal revealed some of those images were copies, despite apparently being from different experiments.
“The authors were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation and due to the elapsed time, the raw data was not available,” the retraction notice says.
“Given the extent of the identified issues, the editors have lost confidence in the data presented and the article’s conclusions can no longer be considered reliable.”
That follows the 2021 retraction of a 2013 paper co-authored by Zhang that claimed to demonstrate a potent new way to block breast cancer from metastasising and spreading through the body.
An investigation by the International Journal of Molecular Medicine concluded images of breast cancer cells apparently from four different experiments actually all came from the same experiment.
“The authors did not offer a satisfactory response to account for the various issues identified in these figures,” the journal said in a statement.
A 2013 paper in Oncogene co-authored by Zhang and Hersey has also been given an error notice after “the authors realised that Figures 4a and 6g of our paper contained inadvertently duplicated images”.
In an emailed statement, University of Newcastle’s pro vice-chancellor of research, Professor Juanita Todd, said she could “confirm the university is currently reviewing concerns raised regarding the research publications in question. However, we cannot comment until the review is complete.”
The University of Sydney confirmed it was looking into the matter as well. The National Health and Medical Research Council said it was aware of the matter but had no remit to investigate.
The investigation and retractions were first reported by RetractionWatch.
The Pebbly Beach Anti-ageing Philosophy Centre
RetractionWatch’s database tracks 38 Australian-authored papers that have been retracted or corrected in the past two years.
The most recent – “Can affordances save civilisation?” – was pulled by Mind & Society last month. The journal’s investigation found it failed to engage with other research and identified fundamental flaws in “the structure of the argument and the coherence of the text”.
The paper’s first sentence reads: “This paper is an ‘opinion’ piece and is not scientific.”
The author, Darryl Penney of the Pebbly Beach Anti-ageing Philosophy Centre in Batemans Bay, NSW, argues that “the universe is fractal”, which is “derived from the creation equation: energy plus organisation equals zero”. The paper quotes Wikipedia and questions whether the universe is real.
Penney did not respond to a request for comment, but Mind & Society noted he did not agree with the retraction.
In December last year, the Journal of Clinical Investigation retracted a paper co-authored by former top researcher Mark Smyth.
The paper was pulled after an investigation by the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre, where Smyth worked, revealed some experiments in the paper may not have been conducted.
The Peter McCallum Cancer Centre said in a statement: “Peter Mac contacted JCI in 2023 to notify them of our concerns over the paper and we have strict protocols in place to ensure our research program operates to the highest standards of integrity and governance.
“Professor Smyth left Peter Mac in 2013 to pursue another opportunity.”
Do you know more? Email liam.mannix@theage.com.au
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