Michael Murphy
28 September 2024 9:39pm
A government scientist may have published faked images in papers on Alzheimer’s, a report has claimed.
Eliezer Masliah, who led the neuroscience division at the National Institute on Aging, a government health body, has been a key figure in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease research for decades.
But an investigation by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made “findings of research misconduct” against Dr Masliah due to “falsification and/or fabrication” of figure panels which were used to show experimental results.
According to the academic journal Science, which conducted its own investigation into Dr Masliah, he may have also doctored pictures used in several research papers.
“All four [papers] used apparently doctored images, according to the dossier, as did other Masliah papers cited in clinical trial reports as important to prasinezumab’s development,” Science reported.
The falsification is claimed to include the “duplication of the same image with different captions about different research in different journals”.
According to the NIH, misconduct may have occurred in two studies co-authored by Dr Masliah.
‘Falsification and fabrication’
In a statement, the Institute said: “Following an investigation, the National Institutes of Health has made findings of research misconduct against Eliezer Masliah, M.D., due to falsification and/or fabrication involving re-use and relabel of figure panels representing different experimental results in two publications.
“NIH will notify the two journals of its findings so that appropriate action can be taken.
“NIH initiated its research misconduct review process in May 2023 after it received allegations from the HHS Office of Research Integrity (ORI) that same month. NIH began its investigation phase in December 2023, concluded its investigation of these allegations on Sept 15, 2024, and notified HHS ORI of its findings.”
Science’s investigation, which was published days after the NIH’s findings, alleged that “scores” of Dr Masliah’s lab studies were “riddled with” apparently manipulated images.
The journal reportedly brought its findings to a neuroscientist and forensic analysts who later asserted that more than 100 of Dr Masliah’s published studies, spanning over two decades, contained a “steady stream of suspect images”.
Dr Masliah, a former professor at the University of California San Diego, was appointed to head the National Institute on Aging in 2016, when Congress significantly increased funding for Alzheimer’s research.
Dr Masliah’s department had a budget of $2.6 billion, making him one of the most influential figures in neuroscience, with the power to set research priorities within the field.
His own research, amounting to around 800 papers, particularly on proteins such as alpha-synuclein linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, has been widely cited and drawn upon in clinical and drug development efforts.
‘Anomalous data’
However, experts quoted by Science allege that much of the research they analysed contained a “pattern of anomalous data” which they say warrants further investigation.
A forensic review led by neuroscientist Matthew Schrag, image analyst Kevin Patrick, and others identified issues in 132 papers published between 1997 and 2023. The team found allegedly manipulated western blots – images used to detect proteins – and allegedly altered micrographs of brain tissue.
In some instances, images were apparently duplicated across different studies that had been published years apart, with conflicting experimental conditions.
The apparently manipulated images raise questions about the calibre and integrity of Dr Masliah’s research, Mu Yang, a Columbia University neurobiologist who analysed parts of Dr Masliah’s published work, told Science.
Dr Masliah’s work has played an important role in advancing drug trials, including for the Parkinson’s treatment prasinezumab.
His research also helped to secure approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to conduct clinical trials for the drug.
Side effects
However, results from a 2022 trial of prasinezumab revealed no significant benefit in treating Parkinson’s, while participants experienced more side effects than those given a placebo.
The 300-page dossier on apparently manipulated images in parts of Dr Masliah’s research “stunned 11 neuroscientists who agreed to review it”, according to Science.
Christian Haass, of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, said: “People will, of course, be shocked, as I was… I was falling from a chair, basically.”
While the researchers “didn’t personally verify every example of possible misconduct,” Science reported that they “agreed that most of the suspect work cannot reasonably be explained as careless errors or publishing anomalies”.
Samuel Gandy, a neurologist at the Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, was “visibly shaken during a video interview” with Science when discussing the dossier, according to the journal.
“I’m floored,” Dr Gandy said. “Hundreds of images. There had to have been ongoing manipulation for years.”
Dr Masliah and the institutions affiliated with his work, such as the NIH and the University of California San Diego, have not yet publicly challenged the findings in the dossier, according to Science.
Dr Masliah and the NIH were contacted for comment.
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