Protein name confusion created antibody mix-up affecting hundreds of papers (opens in new tab)

Hundreds of scientists who study cancer and aging have made an easily avoidable but significant mistake, deploying the wrong antibody to test for a key protein, according to a researcher who exposes errors in the biomedical literature. Instead of antibodies that recognize p16INK4a, a tumor-suppressing protein that may also promote aging, these researchers used antibodies that tag the similarly named protein p16-ARC, which helps shape the cell’s molecular skeleton. The gaffe appears in more th...