Stemcell paper withdrawn
2009-07-31 22:28
London - A controversial study by British scientists who claimed to have created human sperm from embryonic stem cells has been retracted, the researchers' institutes said on Friday.
The paper was withdrawn because part of it had been copied from another author without attribution, they said, while adding that the science itself had not been questioned.
The researchers, led by Professor Karim Nayernia at Newcastle University and the NorthEast England Stem Cell Institute (NESCI), said they had created sperm precursor cells in a lab dish from human embryonic stem cells that carried XY, or male, chromosomes.
The derived cells were able to divide and generate cells with just one set of chromosomes, characteristic of sperm, they said in the paper, published on July 8 in a US academic journal, Stem Cells and Development.
Embryonic stem cells are the hugely versatile master cells found in early-stage embryos that differentiate into becoming all of the tissues of the body.
The study caused huge excitement, as it conjured the idea of a revolution in treating male infertility.
But other researchers were doubtful, saying the work had failed to provide evidence that the spermatozoa behaved and functioned like sperm rather than being just sperm-like cells.
Retraction by a journal can be a major humiliation for scientists, denting the credibility of the work and its authors. The editor and publisher of Stem Cell and Development could not be immediately reached for comment.
In the statement, Newcastle University and NESCI said the paper had been peer-reviewed and "no questions have been raised about the science conducted or the conclusions of the research."
"The withdrawal relates to text in the introduction of an old version of the paper that was submitted in error," the statement said.
"The text was copied without attribution to its original author by a research associate, Dr Jae Ho Lee, who has since left the University. He has apologised to the authors for his mistake and the name of Dr Lee has been removed from the first authorship."
The paper "will now be submitted to another peer-reviewed academic journal," it said, without elaborating.
Stem cells are one of the new frontiers of biomedical research.
This area has drawn lavish funding over the past decade, dangling the glittering vision of growing replacement cells in a lab dish that can replenish diseased or damaged tissue.
But it has also known setbacks and scandal. In 2005, South Korea's Hwang Woo-Suk, once lionised as a pioneer, fell into disgrace after it emerged he had faked two landmark papers, published in the prestigious US journal Science, about creating human stem cells through cloning.