Manipulation alleged in paper linking virus, chronic fatigue syndrome
By Trine Tsouderos
Tribune staff reporter
6:47 p.m. CDT, October 3, 2011
The journal that published a high-profile paper linking chronic
fatigue syndrome to a retrovirus is now investigating allegations that
a figure in that report was manipulated.
The appearance in Science of the 2009 paper caused an immediate
sensation among patients who have yearned for an explanation for their
condition. Its authors said they had found evidence of a retrovirus
called XMRV in the blood of people with chronic fatigue syndrome more
frequently than in the blood of their healthy peers.
The report included a figure purporting to depict lab test results
from seven blood samples, including two from chronic fatigue syndrome
patients whose blood appears to show evidence of XMRV and five from
healthy people whose blood does not.
But the leader of the team that authored the 2009 paper, researcher
Judy Mikovits, apparently presented the same figure -- carrying
different labels and supporting a different point -- in a talk given
at a conference on Sept. 23 in Ottawa.
A copy of her PowerPoint presentation circulating among an email group
also reveals an apparent third version of the image, with a third set
of labels, when formatting is turned off.
"As is our policy in cases of alleged figure manipulation, we will
follow up with the research authors as soon as our own review of the
allegation is complete," the editors of Science wrote in a statement.
"In particular, we will request additional information from the
authors as one of the next steps."
Attempts to interview Mikovits were unsuccessful, and her employer,
the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Diseases in Reno,
Nev., announced Monday that she had been terminated.
Institute president Annette Whittemore said in a statement that the
institute was also looking into the allegations.
"It is our understanding that some patient ID numbers may have been
changed to a new set of coded numbers during the research to protect
their privacy before publication," Whittemore said. "We will work with
Science in hopes of addressing their concerns and to gain a full
understanding of the cause of any potential discrepancies."
Almost immediately after the 2009 Science paper, researchers from
across the globe, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, initiated follow-up experiments
but came up with no evidence XMRV was infecting people. Instead, most
evidence pointed to XMRV as a laboratory contaminant.
Even so, some patients paid for non-FDA-approved blood tests for XMRV,
and some reported taking antiretroviral drugs.
A day before Mikovits' Ottawa talk, several other figures associated
with the Science paper were retracted after scientists discovered lab
contamination associated with part of the study.
That same day, Science also released the results of a study in which
nine independent labs, including the Whittemore Peterson Institute,
tested blinded blood samples from patients and healthy people for
evidence of XMRV. Seven labs found nothing. Results from the other
two, including the institute, were inconsistent.
The reappearing figure came to light after an Oklahoma graduate
student in retrovirology, Abbie Smith, compared Mikovits' presentation
with the original Science figure.
"Ladies and gentlemen, a magic trick," Smith wrote Friday on her blog,
ERV. "I am going to take two pieces of data, from two independent
experiments, establishing 'proof' of two different concepts, presented
in two different formats and two different events. ... And turn them
into the same figure."
Patients in online forums reacted swiftly. "I have been a big
supporter of WPI, sending them a lot of money whilst having only
little. But this is very serious. At best they are incredibly sloppy
and disorganized," one person wrote on the Phoenix Rising forum.
Retrovirologist Jonathan Stoye, who co-wrote a supportive commentary
accompanying the 2009 study, said of the recent events: "It is a
tragedy in every respect."
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