Geng Integrity Report — IGF2BP2 Promotes EMT and Metastasis by Stabilizing HMGA1 mRNA in Gastric Cancer

Academic fraud report · Geng Detector

Summary

This report compiles multiple integrity concerns regarding the 2022 MDPI Cancers article (DOI: 10.3390/cancers14215381) on IGF2BP2 in gastric cancer. The overall verdict is highly suspicious. Key issues include (1) a qPCR forward primer for IGF2BP2 reported as only 14 nucleotides, which is incompatible with specific annealing at standard qPCR temperatures and would be expected to fail or yield non-specific products; (2) a citation mismatch in which reference [13] actually concerns p62 expression in digestive cancers, not IGF2BP2 as the text asserts; (3) repeated misspelling of the GAPDH loading control as 'GADPH' in Western blot methods and apparent table-header formatting errors; (4) an unusually fast submission-to-acceptance timeline of 9 days (received 16 Oct 2022, accepted 25 Oct 2022, published 31 Oct 2022) for a paper with extensive in vitro, clinical (173 samples), and in vivo work; and (5) inability to perform image-level duplication analysis from the text-only source provided. Confidence is high for the textual and methodological findings; image analysis remains inconclusive without the original figures. Final determination requires institutional investigation.

Verdict

Highly suspicious. Multiple independent textual and methodological concerns were confirmed against the published paper. Image-based duplication analysis could not be completed from the text-only source. The combination of nonsensical primer sequences, citation mismatches, recurrent typographical errors, and a 9-day acceptance window is not consistent with rigorous peer review.

Key findings

Published primer for IGF2BP2 qPCR is biotically non-viable: forward sequence 5'-AGCTAAGCGGGCAT-3' is only 14 nt, too short for specific annealing at standard qPCR temperatures (55–65 °C).
Reference [13], cited in support of IGF2BP2 expression in GC tissues, is actually titled 'The diversity expression of p62 in digestive system cancers' — a clear subject mismatch.
The endogenous control 'GAPDH' is repeatedly misspelled as 'GADPH' in the Western blot section, and Table 1 displays apparent formatting corruption (e.g., '2 p ' instead of χ²/p).
Submission-to-acceptance interval of only 9 days (received 16 Oct 2022, accepted 25 Oct 2022, published 31 Oct 2022) for a study involving 173 clinical samples, multiple cell lines, transfections, Transwell assays, Western blots, and mouse xenograft/lung metastasis models.
Image reuse/duplication could not be assessed because the source provided was text-only; no pixel-level conclusion can be drawn.

Evidence highlights

Primer anomaly (Section 2.5, p. 4): Forward 5'-AGCTAAGCGGGCAT-3' (14 nt); reverse 5'-CCGCAGCGGGAAATCAATCT-3' (20 nt). 14 nt is well below the 18–25 nt range used routinely for qPCR.
Citation mismatch (Introduction, Ref [13]): Cited as support for IGF2BP2 levels in GC; actual reference is about p62 in digestive system cancers — a different protein and topic.
Typographical errors (Section 2.6; Table 1): 'anti-GADPH antibody', 'The expression level of GADPH was used…'; Table 1 header shows '2 p ' indicating broken χ²/p formatting.
Timeline: Received 16 Oct 2022; Accepted 25 Oct 2022; Published 31 Oct 2022. Δt accept = 9 days.
Scope: 173 clinical samples; multiple cell lines; in vivo xenograft and lung metastasis assays — workload disproportionate to the 9-day review window.

Notes

DOI: 10.3390/cancers14215381 — preserved exactly as in the source.
Image-level duplication/PS-analysis was not possible because the source provided was plain text; this is a methodological limit, not a positive clearance.
All numeric evidence (primer lengths, dates, sample size) is reproduced verbatim from the source report.
Findings should be treated as indicators warranting institutional investigation; final determination of misconduct requires an official inquiry.
Recommended follow-up: request original primer design files, qPCR melt/amplification curves, uncropped Western blots, and raw animal-experiment data; raise the issues on PubPeer; notify the journal editorial office.