Two papers looking at colon cancer biomarkers have been retracted by research team that had been based at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, reports Retraction Watch. Papers from that group looking at prostate cancer have already been retracted, the blog adds, and some of the team members have since moved on from Hopkins.
The first paper from a March 2008 issue of of Clinical Cancer Research, "Evaluation of Colon Cancer-Specific Antigen 2 as a Potential Serum Marker for Colorectal Cancer," was retracted due to "inconsistencies in the data collection and recordation" as well as possible data falsification, according to the retraction notice.
Similarly, a 2007 Cancer Research paper called "Initial Analyses of Colon Cancer-Specific Antigen (CCSA)-3 and CCSA-4 as Colorectal Cancer-Associated Serum Markers" was retracted because of inconsistencies and possible data falsification.
Both notices add that the first author, Eddy Leman, could not be reached to agree to the retractions.
Retraction Watch adds that Eleftherios Diamandis from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto has been critical of the group's papers, saying that they "suffer from methodological and interpretative shortcoming."