← return to all forensic metascience findings

Toolkit Image Findings and PubPeer comments

This page contains a continually-updated list of findings from the Forensic Metascience AI toolkit's image analysis system which we have submitted to PubPeer. Every finding undergoes thorough human review by Dan Elton and Greg Fitzgerald before submission.

Image findings submitted to PubPeer(24 papers)

miR-338-3p Is Down-Regulated by Hepatitis B Virus X and Inhibits Cell Proliferation by Targeting the 3′-UTR Region of CyclinD1

Xiaoyu Fu; Deming Tan; Zhouhua Hou; Zhiliang Hu; Guozhen Liu. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 13(7): 8514–8539 (2012). doi:10.3390/ijms13078514

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: Figure 5a contains a duplicated region across rows labeled as different treatments. The center column shows matching cells, with almost identical fluorescence patterns, although some spots in the second row do not appear in the first.

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 5a with matching cell regions outlined in the Mimics-NC and Inhibitor-NC treatment rows.

Permissive role for mGlu1 metabotropic glutamate receptors in excitotoxic retinal degeneration

Francesca Liberatore; Domenico Bucci; Giada Mascio; Michele Madonna; Paola Di Pietro; Martina Beneventano; Alda Maria Puliti; Giuseppe Battaglia; Valeria Bruno; Ferdinando Nicoletti; Maria Rosaria Romano. Neuroscience 363: 142–149 (2017). doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.09.005

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: A duplicated region appears across figures corresponding to two different mouse strains, C57BL/6J and BALB/c.

Submitted .

Comparison of Figures 1 and 4, with matching retinal tissue regions outlined in cyan.

β-catenin confers resistance to PI3K and AKT inhibitors and subverts FOXO3a to promote metastasis in colon cancer

Stephan P. Tenbaum; Paloma Ordóñez-Morán; Isabel Puig; Irene Chicote; Oriol Arqués; Stefania Landolfi; Yolanda Fernández; José Raúl Herance; Juan D. Gispert; Leire Mendizabal; Susana Aguilar; Santiago Ramón y. Cajal; Simó Schwartz; Ana Vivancos; Eloy Espín; Santiago Rojas; José Baselga; Josep Tabernero; Alberto Muñoz; Héctor G. Palmer. Nature Medicine 18(6): 892–901 (2012). doi:10.1038/nm.2772

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: The cells in Figure 1 are described as coming from a human patient, while the matching cells in Figure 6 are described as coming from a tumor grown subcutaneously in a mouse from human cells.

Submitted .

Figures 1 and 6 · Watch on YouTube

Construction of a recombinant human insulin expression vector for mammary gland-specific expression in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) mammary epithelial cell line

Ramakant Kaushik; Karn Pratap Singh; Archana Kumari; K. Rameshbabu; Manoj Kumar Singh; Radhey Shyam Manik; Prabhat Palta; Suresh Kumar Singla; Manmohan Singh Chauhan. Molecular Biology Reports 41(9): 5891–5902 (2014). doi:10.1007/s11033-014-3464-3

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: Images appear to be reused across papers. The 2014 caption describes “EGFP expression in pAcISUBC transfected BuMECs.” The pAcISUBC human insulin expression vector was constructed in the 2014 paper and does not appear in the 2013 paper.

Submitted .

Comparison of Figure 3 from Kaushik et al. (2013) and Figure 2 from Kaushik et al. (2014), showing matching fluorescence and cell images.

Identification and Characterization of a Metal Binding-Independent Rift Valley Fever Virus Endonuclease Inhibitor

Cara D. Kirby; Gai Liu; Farheen Fatma; Maris R. Pedlow; Narendran G-Dayanandan; Nitin Sharma; Zachary D. Frey; Rachael E. Rush; Steven C. Cardinale; Andrzej M. Krezel; Amy L. Hartman; Terry L. Bowlin; Daisy W. Leung; Gaya K. Amarasinghe. ACS Infectious Diseases 11(9): 2373–2382 (2025). doi:10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c00088

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: Figure 3A contains a duplicated image across conditions. The GFP panels labeled DMSO and 4523 show matching fluorescence patterns.

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 3A with matching GFP regions outlined in the DMSO and 4523 treatment columns.

LDL receptor-related protein-1 is a sialic-acid-independent receptor for myelin-associated glycoprotein that functions in neurite outgrowth inhibition by MAG and CNS myelin

Travis L. Stiles; Travis L. Dickendesher; Alban Gaultier; Anthony Fernandez-Castaneda; Elisabetta Mantuano; Roman J. Giger; Steven L. Gonias. Journal of Cell Science 126(1): 209–220 (2013). doi:10.1242/jcs.113191

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: A duplicated region appears across two separate experiments: the MAG/NTC panel in Figure 5B matches the MAG/vehicle panel in Figure 8A. A panel in Figure 3b also appears in Travis L. Dickendesher’s PhD thesis with a different label and different coloration.

Submitted .

Comparison of Figure 5B and Figure 8A, with matching MAG neurite-outgrowth panels outlined in green.
Figures 5B and 8A
Figure 3b compared with Fig. 2.5 from Travis L. Dickendesher’s PhD thesis, with matching brain-section panels outlined in cyan.
Figure 3b and Dickendesher thesis Fig. 2.5
Figure 3b and Dickendesher thesis · Watch on YouTube

NgR1 and NgR3 are receptors for chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans

Travis L. Dickendesher; Katherine T. Baldwin; Yevgeniya A. Mironova; Yoshiki Koriyama; Stephen J. Raiker; Kim L. Askew; Andrew Wood; Cédric G. Geoffroy; Binhai Zheng; Claire D. Liepmann; Yasuhiro Katagiri; Larry I. Benowitz; Herbert M. Geller; Roman J. Giger. Nature Neuroscience 15(5): 703–712 (2012). doi:10.1038/nn.3070

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: A duplicated region appears between Supplementary Figure 4 (left) and Figure 4 (right), in addition to issues already noted on PubPeer.

Submitted .

Comparison of Supplementary Figure 4 and Figure 4, with matching binding panels outlined in cyan.

Semaphorin3F Drives Dendritic Spine Pruning Through Rho-GTPase Signaling

Bryce W. Duncan; Vishwa Mohan; Sarah D. Wade; Young Truong; Alexander Kampov-Polevoi; Brenda R. Temple; Patricia F. Maness. Molecular Neurobiology 58(8): 3817–3834 (2021). doi:10.1007/s12035-021-02373-2

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: In figure 3G the panel on the right has the same neurons as the panel next to it, but rotated 180 degrees and then flipped horizontally. The red overlay is similar but a bit different.

Submitted .

Annotated panel G with matching dendritic regions outlined in cyan in the Cofilin Fc and Sema3F-Fc images.
Cofilin panels in panel G · Watch on YouTube

Activation of HIPK2 Promotes ER Stress-Mediated Neurodegeneration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Sebum Lee; Yulei Shang; Stephanie A. Redmond; Anatoly Urisman; Amy A. Tang; Kathy H. Li; Alma L. Burlingame; Ryan A. Pak; Ana Jovičić; Aaron D. Gitler; Jinhua Wang; Nathanael S. Gray; William W. Seeley; Teepu Siddique; Eileen H. Bigio; Virginia M.-Y. Lee; John Q. Trojanowski; Jonah R. Chan; Eric J. Huang. Neuron 91(1): 41–55 (2016). doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2016.05.021

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: Figure 1 contains a duplication across conditions, with the image flipped horizontally. Matching regions appear in the wild-type DMSO and Hipk2 knockout tunicamycin panels.

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 1 with matching regions outlined in yellow in panels B and K and their merged images, C and L.
Figure 1 across conditions · Watch on YouTube

Regulation of MMP-9 (type IV collagenase) production and invasiveness in gliomas by the extracellular signal-regulated kinase and jun amino-terminal kinase signaling cascades

Sajani S. Lakka; Sushma L. Jasti; Anthanassios P. Kyritsis; W.K. Alfred Yung; Francis Ali-Osman; Garth L. Nicolson; Jasti S. Rao. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis 18(3): 245–252 (2000). doi:10.1023/a:1006724826083

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: Figure 7 contains an image duplication with a 180-degree rotation.

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 7 with matching regions outlined in cyan in the ERK1 mt and 5 µM PD98059 panels.

Betulinic acid suppresses STAT3 activation pathway through induction of protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP‐1 in human multiple myeloma cells

Manoj K. Pandey; Bokyung Sung; Bharat B. Aggarwal. International Journal of Cancer 127(2): 282–292 (2010). doi:10.1002/ijc.25059

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: An image is re-used from another publication with a 90 degree rotation. The image purports to show xenographed tumor tissue across four different mice, but the same tissue appears in all four images but with changes in color.

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 6 with the matching regions outlined.
Earlier comparison: image reuse across publications with a 90-degree rotation. Submitted September 26, 2026.
Annotated comparison of four mouse and tumor tissue panels labeled P-Luc, VC-Luc, PX1-Luc, and PX2-Luc, with matching tissue regions outlined in color.
Tumor tissue comparison across four mice. Submitted September 27, 2026.

Ursolic Acid Inhibits Growth and Metastasis of Human Colorectal Cancer in an Orthotopic Nude Mouse Model by Targeting Multiple Cell Signaling Pathways: Chemosensitization with Capecitabine

Sahdeo Prasad; Vivek R. Yadav; Bokyung Sung; Simone Reuter; Ramaswamy Kannappan; Amit Deorukhkar; Parmeswaran Diagaradjane; Caimiao Wei; Veerabhadran Baladandayuthapani; Sunil Krishnan; Sushovan Guha; Bharat B. Aggarwal. Clinical Cancer Research 18(18): 4942–4953 (2012). doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-11-2805

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: duplication

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 6 with the matching regions outlined.

RNA interference-mediated targeting of urokinase plasminogen activator receptor and matrix metalloproteinase-9 gene expression in the IOMM-lee malignant meningioma cell line inhibits tumor growth, tumor cell invasion and angiogenesis

Padmaja Tummalapalli; Christopher Gondi; Dzung Dinh; Meena Gujrati; Jasti Rao. International Journal of Oncology 31(1): 5–17 (2007). doi:10.3892/ijo.31.1.5

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: cross-paper image re-use with different label. (and another 3 images re-used with same labels)

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 4 and Figure 3 with the matching regions outlined.

Curcumin sensitizes human colorectal cancer to capecitabine by modulation of cyclin D1, COX‐2, MMP‐9, VEGF and CXCR4 expression in an orthotopic mouse model

Ajaikumar B. Kunnumakkara; Parmeswaran Diagaradjane; Preetha Anand; Harikumar B. Kuzhuvelil; Amit Deorukhkar; Juri Gelovani; Sushovan Guha; Sunil Krishnan; Bharat B. Aggarwal. International Journal of Cancer 125(9): 2187–2197 (2009). doi:10.1002/ijc.24593

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: duplication with vertical flip. (not the subject of the Erratum on this paper)

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 6 with the matching regions outlined.

Altered actin cytoskeleton and inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase expression by vanadate and phenylarsine oxide, inhibitors of phosphotyrosine phosphatases: Modulation of migration and invasion of human malignant glioma cells

Shravan K. Chintala; Athanassios P. Kyritsis; Pamarthi M. Mohan; Sanjeeva Mohanam; Raymond Sawaya; Ziya Gokslan; W. K. Alfred Yung; Peter Steck; Joon H. Uhm; Bharat B. Aggarwal; Jasti S. Rao. Molecular Carcinogenesis 26(4): 274–285 (1999). doi:10.1002/(sici)1098-2744(199912)26:4<274::aid-mc6>3.0.co;2-1

View on PubPeer

Issue submitted: duplication

Submitted .

Annotated Figure 9 with the matching regions outlined.