Multinationals going EAE (east)....... pay peanuts?.....Get fraud?

News on the wire is that GlaxoSmithKline's research chief in China fired for data fraud. There is an allegation that there has been a misrepresentation of a paper published in Nature medicine. 

Liu X, Leung S, Wang C, Tan Z, Wang J, Guo TB, Fang L, Zhao Y, Wan B, Qin X, Lu L, Li R, Pan H, Song M, Liu A, Hong J, Lu H, Zhang JZ. Crucial role of interleukin-7 in T helper type 17 survival and expansion in autoimmune disease. Nat Med. 2010 Feb;16(2):191-7.


Interleukin-7 receptor (IL-7R) is genetically associated with susceptibility to multiple sclerosis. Here we describe that IL-7 is essential for survival and expansion of pathogenic T helper type 17 (T(H)17) cells in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). IL-7 directly expanded effector T(H)17 cells in EAE and human T(H)17 cells from subjects with multiple sclerosis, whereas it was not required for T(H)17 differentiation. IL-7R antagonism rendered differentiated T(H)17 cells susceptible to apoptosis through the inhibition of Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription-5 (JAK-STAT5) pathway and altered expression of the prosurvival protein Bcl-2 and the proapoptotic protein Bax, leading to decreased severity of EAE. In contrast, T(H)1 and regulatory T (T(reg)) cells were less susceptible to or not affected by IL-7R antagonism in vivo. The selectivity was attributable to minimal expression of IL-7Ralpha in T(reg) cells and correlated with a high level of Socs1 (encoding suppressor of cytokine signaling-1) expression in T(H)1 cells. The study reveals a unique, previously undescribed role of IL-7-IL-7R in T(H)17 cell survival and expansion and has implications in the treatment of autoimmune disease.

China has the globes biggest population, is that why big pharma is relocating there in droves killing the UKs pharmaceutical industry. GSK have moved their neuroscience to China, is that for great science well maybe but could the prospect of low costs and less regulation be important?



IL-7 receptor is an MS gene and IL-17 is the EAEologists flavour of the month..There had to be link...there was. but was there?

So yet more MS research gets wiped from the science annals. I wondered if this would happen.....well.....prediction was...when this would happen.

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