Two papers co-authored by immunology researchers Andrea Cerutti and Paolo Casali have been retracted from Nature Immunology due to concerns about image integrity. Both studies, published in the early 2000s, had attracted significant citations and influenced subsequent research on antibody diversity and immune cell interactions.
The most recent retraction, issued on February 9, relates to a 2002 study on antibody diversity, which has been cited over 1,000 times according to Clarivate’s Web of Science. The notice highlighted that several figure panels appeared to partially overlap with those from another publication by the same authors in The Journal of Immunology (2002). Additional figures were noted to contain repetitive visual features. The authors reported that, given the age of the work, the original data were no longer accessible. Cerutti and Casali agreed to the retraction, while other co-authors could not be reached.
Earlier, on January 9, the journal retracted another paper by the same team, focused on immune cell interactions in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The notice cited four figures with “highly similar” lanes and signs of potential digital editing. Corrections to antibody sources had been made shortly after the paper’s publication. Nature Immunology is currently reviewing three additional papers by the authors.
Both Cerutti, a professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies and leader of a group at Hospital del Mar Research Institute, Barcelona, and Casali, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, maintain that no misconduct occurred. Casali noted that the findings have been replicated by other laboratories, while Cerutti emphasized that the 2002 study contributed to the development of new antibody-based therapeutics now under clinical investigation.
The papers had been flagged on PubPeer, with comments on figure similarities dating back to 2016. Alerts were sent to the journals by independent researchers earlier this year. The Journal of Immunology has not publicly indicated whether it will review the 2002 article.
These retractions highlight the challenges of verifying long-published visual data and underscore the importance of maintaining original datasets for reproducibility. They also provide a reminder for journals and research institutions to continuously evaluate archival publications for integrity, particularly when highly cited works influence ongoing scientific developments.