Nature has retracted a figure in a highly cited study that found some adult stem cells in mouse bone marrow could form most other tissues in the body. The flawed data do not affect the main finding of the paper, according to an inquiry launched by the journal.The authors of the 2002 study, led by Catherine Verfaillie at the University of Minnesota, issued a corrigendum of the figure, which described the cell surface phenotypes of the relatively rare multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPCs). The 2002 paper, which triggered international headlines, claimed that MAPCs could be an ideal source for stem cell therapy. But the results proved difficult to replicate, and scientists debated the paper after its release.A University of Minnesota inquiry into the paper concluded earlier this year that the Nature figure was "significantly flawed," but there was no evidence that the mistakes were intentional. One outside adult stem cell...

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