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| Stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency | 2/2 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimulus-triggered_acquisition_of_pluripotency | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T09:31:09.670612+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Investigation into disputed claims === In the months after the two Nature papers were released, all scientists who tried to duplicate Obokata's results failed and suspicion arose that her results were due to error or fraud. An investigation into alleged irregularities was launched by RIKEN on February 15, 2014. The allegations questioned the use of seemingly duplicated images in the papers, and reported failure to reproduce her results in other prominent stem-cell laboratories. Nature also announced that they were investigating. Several stem-cell scientists defended Obokata or reserved their opinion while the investigation was ongoing. To address the problem of reproducibility in other laboratories, Obokata published some technical 'tips' on the protocols on March 5 while promising that the detailed procedure would be published in due course. On March 11, Teruhiko Wakayama, one of Obokata's coauthors, urged all the researchers involved to withdraw the articles, citing many "questionable points". Charles Vacanti said he opposed their retraction and posted a "revised protocol" for creating STAP cells on his own website, which was taken down after he resigned his BWH post. On March 14, RIKEN released an interim report of the investigation. Out of the six items being investigated, the committee concluded that there was inappropriate handling of data on two items, but did not judge the mishandling as research misconduct. On April 1, RIKEN concluded that Obokata had engaged in "research misconduct", falsifying data on two occasions. The co-authors were cleared of misconduct, but bore "grave responsibility" for not verifying the data themselves. RIKEN also announced that an internal group had been established to verify whether the ‘stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency’ is reproducible. Obokata maintained her innocence and said she would appeal the decision. On June 4, 2014, Obokata agreed to retract both the article and the "letter". The article was officially retracted on July 2, 2014. An article analyzing the controversy concluded that while issues of image manipulation, duplication and plagiarism were potentially detectable, the reviewers could not have concluded that the article was the product of academic misconduct prior to acceptance. In the wake of the controversy, observers, journalists, and former members of RIKEN have stated that the organization is riddled with unprofessional and inadequate scientific rigor and consistency, and that this is reflective of serious issues with scientific research in Japan in general. RIKEN commissioned a team of scientists to attempt to verify Obokata's original results and asked Obokata to participate in the effort. On August 5, 2014, Obokata's supervisor and co-author of the original paper, Yoshiki Sasai, was discovered dead by apparent suicide by hanging in a building at the RIKEN facility in Kobe, Japan. On September 24, 2015, the RIKEN scientists reported that Obokata's STAP cells came from embryonic stem cell contamination, while on the same day, research groups who had attempted to reproduce the STAP protocol jointly reported that they had found it irreproducible.
== Implications == If the findings had proven to be valid, stimulus-triggered pluripotency cells could have been generated more easily and efficiently than by existing iPS techniques. Adapted to human tissue, the technique could have led to cheap and simple procedures to create patient-specific stem cells. Stem-cell researcher Dusko Ilic of King's College London called STAP cells "a major scientific discovery that will be opening a new era in stem-cell biology". Shinya Yamanaka, a pioneer of iPS research, called the findings "important to understand nuclear reprogramming ... [and] a new approach to generate iPS-like cells". The idea that STAP cells can form placental tissue meant they could have made cloning considerably easier by bypassing the need for a donor egg and in vitro cultivation. One previous way of creating stem cells has been via genetic manipulation of adult cells into iPS cells. Progress on iPS-based therapies has been slow due to regulatory hurdles surrounding genetic manipulation. Additionally, iPS techniques have an observed efficiency of around 1%, significantly lower than the claimed efficiency of STAP.
== See also == Induced stem cells Muse cell Stem cell controversy Masayuki Yamato
== References ==
== Further reading == Baumann, Kim (2014). "Stem cells: Reprogramming with low pH". Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology. 15 (3): 149. doi:10.1038/nrm3754. ISSN 1471-0072. PMID 24518367. Obokata, Haruko; Sasai, Yoshiki; Niwa, Hitoshi; Kadota, Mitsutaka; Andrabi, Munazah; Takata, Nozomu; Tokoro, Mikiko; Terashita, Yukari; Yonemura, Shigenobu; Vacanti, Charles A.; Wakayama, Teruhiko (January 29, 2014). "Bidirectional developmental potential in reprogrammed cells with acquired pluripotency". Nature. 505 (7485): 676–687. Bibcode:2014Natur.505..676O. doi:10.1038/nature12969. PMID 24476891. S2CID 54564044. (Retracted, see doi:10.1038/nature13599, PMID 24990752, Retraction Watch) Update on the STAP cell papers. March 6, 2014 "The rise and fall of STAP". Nature. "The Stress Test". The New Yorker.
== External links == STAP HOPE PAGE Archived March 31, 2016, at the Wayback Machine by Haruko Obokata, March 25, 2016 Stress turns ordinary cells pluripotent News release at RIKEN with videos.