The latest studies from the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology have had greater success in repeating two studies, ScienceInsider reports.
Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology was started in 2014 by the journal eLife, Center for Open Science, and Science Exchange to replicate the findings of some high-profile preclinical cancer studies.
In January, project reported the first results of its effort, though with mixed results. For instance, two of the replication studies were fairly successful, though they had flaws of their own, and two others couldn't be directly compared to the original studies. The fifth couldn't be replicated.
In one of the new replication studies, researchers from the University of California Davis, were able to generate similar results to a 2010 paper that reported IDH1 and IDH2 mutations in some cancers stimulate growth, while in the other, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and ProNovus Bioscience report similar results to a 2011 paper that a BET inhibitor could kill leukemia cells in vitro. Unlike the original article, the Penn-ProNovus team didn't find that mice treated with a BET inhibitor lived longer.
ScienceInsider notes, though, that the replication team conducted the mouse experiment slightly differently than the original team did, which may have influenced the results. "I think we should be careful not to make too much of the absence of statistically significant differences in survival as an endpoint," Karen Adelman from Harvard University and the eLife editor who oversaw reviews of the replication paper tells ScienceInsider.