Transplant International published in 2012 a review paper [1], in which another article from the same authors was cited [2]. This article had been published in the Lancet in 2008 and was very recently retracted for demonstrated falsification [3]. The falsification had been confirmed in a decision by the Swedish National Board for Assessment of Research Misconduct [4].
Briefly, the paper retracted by the Lancet described the allegedly successful transplantation of a tissue-engineered tracheal segment, reporting that “the graft immediately provided the recipient with a functional airway, improved her quality of life, and had a normal appearance and mechanical properties at 4 months” [2]. The conclusions of the investigation by the Swedish National Board for Assessment of Research Misconduct found that this statement constituted falsification [4].
The review article [1] was accepted and published in Transplant International based on its perceived quality and the supposed merits of the authors’ work. In this review, the authors stated that “(tissue engineering) has already provided functional tissue and organ human replacement” (sic), citing to support this point the retracted Lancet article [2] that they knew contained falsified data.
We are therefore retracting this review article.
Thierry Berney.
Transplant International editor-in-chief.
References
1
Baiguera S Jungebluth P Mazzanti B Macchiarini P . Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Tissue-Engineered Tissue and Organ Replacements. Transpl Int (2012) 25:369–82. 10.1111/j.1432-2277.2011.01426.x
2
Macchiarini P Jungebluth P Go T Asnaghi MA Rees LE Cogan TA et al Clinical Transplantation of a Tissue-Engineered Airway. Lancet (2008) 372:2023–30. 10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61598-6
3
The Editors of The Lancet. Retraction: Clinical Transplantation of a Tissue-Engineered Airway. Lancet (2023) 402:1510. 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02341-3
4
Swedish National Board for Assessment of Research Misconduct. Decision Regarding Research Misconduct. Ref 3.2-22/0092 (2023). Available at: https://npof.se/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Decision-in-case-3.2-22-0092_web.pdf (Accessed December 15, 2023).
Summary
Keywords
immunogenicity, immunomodulation, mesenchymal stromal cells, Tissue engineering, stromal cells
Citation
Transplant International Editorial Office (2024) Retraction: Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Tissue-Engineered Tissue and Organ Replacements. Transpl Int 37:12843. doi: 10.3389/ti.2024.12843
Received
13 February 2024
Accepted
23 February 2024
Published
05 March 2024
Approved by
Thierry Berney, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Volume
37 - 2024
Updates
Copyright
© 2024 Transplant International Editorial Office.
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*Correspondence: Transplant International Editorial Office, tieditorialoffice@frontierspartnerships.org
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