Stem confusion: detailed analysis
The "revolutionary" of stem cell research has been exposed
The Japanese newspaper "Emiuri Shimbun" placed on the front page a story about a patient who underwent surgery in February, and now has fully recovered.
However, Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where, according to Mr. Moriguchi, he did his job, denied that this procedure took place. "No clinical trials related to Dr. Moriguchi's work were approved by the expert councils of either Harvard University or MGH," writes David Cameron, a representative of the Harvard Medical School. "The work he reports has not been carried out at MGH," confirms Ryan Donovan, who is responsible for public relations at MGH. As a result, the Japanese television network Nippon News Network even deleted a video posted on the Internet telling how Mr. Moriguchi presented the results of the study at a conference of the New York Stem Cell Research Foundation.
The humble hero of the note.
If the scientist is not lying, then he has accomplished a real feat by "catapulting" iPS cells from laboratories to operating rooms much earlier than most experts predicted. "I hope that this therapy will be accepted in Japan as soon as possible," the head of a Tokyo–based organization that helps children with heart disease said in an interview with the Emiuri Shimbun newspaper.
But experts from the very beginning had reasons to treat this news with suspicion. Mr. Moriguchi claims that he managed to invent a method of reprogramming cells using only two chemicals – a microRNA-145 inhibitor and a TGF-β ligand. However, stem cell researcher Hiromitsu Nakauchi from the University of Tokyo admits that he has never heard of the success of this method, nor of Mr. Moriguchi himself. In addition, Mr. Moriguchi noted that cells can be differentiated into cardiac cells using the "hypothermia" method he invented. "Another oddity," Mr. Nakauchi comments.
The article in which Mr. Moriguchi presented his methodology (Generation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cells from Liver Progenitor Cells by Two Chemicals and the Clinical Application. By Hisashi Moriguchi, Makoto Mihara, Chfumi Sato and Raymond T Chung), published in a book describing the latest achievements in the field of stem cells, and includes whole paragraphs, almost verbatim taken from other works. For example, chapter 2.3 of "Western Blotting" is identical to an excerpt from Mr. Yamanaka's 2007 article. Section 2.1.1, in which Mr. Moriguchi describes a human liver biopsy, coincides in terms of the number of patients and the time of receiving samples with another article, only the name of the institution has been changed.
Mr. Moriguchi told the staff of the journal Nature that there is nothing strange about this: "We all do the same thing, so we choose the same words." He admitted that he had used other articles, but only as references.
As proof of the authenticity of the supercooling method, Mr. Moriguchi cited his own article in the journal Scientific Reports, also published by Nature Publishing Group. When Nature journalists pointed out to him that that work describes hypothermia of human ovaries for their preservation, and not differentiation of iPS cells into cardiac cells, the scientist said that the reviewer recommended removing mention of this experiment, because it involved, in fact, the same technology.
Mr. Moriguchi claims that he did most of the suspicious work himself – including checking the safety of the method on pigs, the first surgical intervention and subsequently some of the similar procedures on five other patients whom he had been engaged in since August. According to him, other researchers took part in some procedures, but he refused to give their names.
Without batting an eye, the scientist agreed with the snide journalists that such a job requires a very versatile talent. He stated that he studied the appropriate surgical techniques while working on a degree at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. However, a few days later he had another legend: now he claims that he has a medical degree, but not an academic degree.
The University of Tokyo confirmed that Mr. Moriguchi did indeed work there from 2006 to 2009, studying medical economics and evaluating clinical technologies. Now he is listed as a part-time visiting researcher in the laboratory of Makoto Mihara, who is assigned to the Department of cosmetic surgery at the University Hospital, going to work once or twice a week. During the preparation of this material, Mr. Mihara was at the conference, and Nature journalists could not receive his comments.
Mr. Moriguchi also claims that he had his own laboratory at Harvard Medical School and MGH. Both institutions confirmed that such a person visited MGH in 1999-2000, but has not been associated with either since then.
When asked who financed the work with iPS cells, where the procedures were performed, who gave the project an ethical assessment and which institution, corresponding to the appropriate rules of production organization (good manufacturing practice, GMP), produced the necessary cells, Mr. Moriguchi again referred to the long-suffering Harvard Medical School and MGH. But he could not name the head of the ethics supervisory board and did not specify the GMP company.
Jerome Ritz, co-director of the General Center for Cellular Manipulation. Connell O'Reilly of Harvard Medical School, told the journal Nature: "We have not produced iPS cells on our equipment for any patients. I can't imagine any other institution capable of producing such cells."
Skepticism about revolutionary work is shared by many. "I doubt its reality," Mr. Nakauchi admits.
On Saturday, Mr. Moriguchi, surrounded from all sides, gave a press conference in New York and admitted that he had discussed possible procedures with five patients, but they never took place. "Perhaps I exaggerated a little," the scientist said. – It was wrong. I admit that I lied."
At the same time, he continues to claim that the first surgical intervention took place – but not in February 2012 at Harvard, but in June last year at a Boston hospital, the name of which he declined to specify. As proof, he presented a stamp in his passport, indicating that he was in the United States at the time. Mr. Moriguchi also noted that at his home in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo, records relating to that operation are kept.
Otherwise, he now tells the story that in 2010, with the help of iPS cells, he treated a patient for hepatitis C, which was even written by the newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun. But this Friday (October 12), the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, with which, according to Mr. Moriguchi, he collaborated during the experiment, notified the public that there was nothing like that. Then the scientist said that in fact everything was happening in the USA.
New details regarding the "revolutionary" publication are also being clarified. Raymond Chang from MGH was surprised to learn that his name appears among the co-authors. He had no idea about this article. Four other co-authors also disavowed cooperation with Mr. Moriguchi...
Prepared based on Nature News: Stem-cell transplant claims debunked.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru15.10.2012