Earlier this week, the journal Biochemical Pharmacology retracted seven papers authored by Bharat Aggarwal, an MD Anderson Cancer Center researcher who retired at the end of 2015. The papers, published between 2007 and 2011, have been cited more than 500 times. In each case, the journal reported that, “The article has been retracted because the data integrity has become questionable,” and listed particular figures where images had been inappropriately reused or manipulated.
His interest in TNF led him to study inflammation and its connection to chronic diseases, including cancer. As a child growing up in India, he had often been fed turmeric as an anti-inflammatory agent, which led him to test curcumin, a component of turmeric for anti-inflammatory properties. He is known for showing that curcumin blocks inflammatory pathways, leading to clinical trials for use of the compound in treating cancer.
Aggarwal completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley and postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior to his role at MD Anderson, he conducted research for Genentech from 1980-1989. During his career, he authored more than 500 papers in a variety of highly respected journals.
A list of the retracted papers and details of which images were reused or manipulated can be found on the blog, Retraction Watch, and a list of suspect images in papers from Biochemical Pharmacology and other journals ranging back to 1999 can be found here.
