Retraction: Extracellular ATP Induces Cytokine Expression and Apoptosis through P2X₇ Receptor in Murine Mast Cells Free

We wish to retract the article titled “Extracellular ATP Induces Cytokine Expression and Apoptosis through P2X₇ Receptor in Murine Mast Cells” by Elena Bulanova, Vadim Budagian, Zane Orinska, Martina Hein, Frank Petersen, Lutz Thon, Dieter Adam, and Silvia Bulfone-Paus, The Journal of Immunology, 2005, 174: 3880–3890.

This retraction follows a formal investigation by the Research Center Borstel into scientific misconduct. The main findings of the investigation were the following:

• 1) Fig. 3: Although in principle the reported results are correct, the error bars could not be verified on the basis of the raw data.

• 2) Fig. 4: The figure seems to contain several severe manipulations. Various raw data are not available. Independent repetitions of the experiments shown in Fig. 4B regarding BMMC and MC/9 (left and middle panels) confirmed the original data in principle.

The first two authors declined to sign this Letter of Retraction. All the other authors wish to retract the article. We deeply regret these irregularities and apologize to the scientific community for any inconvenience this might cause.