Cancer studies pass reproducibility test | Science | AAAS

"A high-profile project aiming to test reproducibility in cancer biology has released a second batch of results, and this time the news is good: Most of the experiments from two key cancer papers could be repeated.

The latest replication studies, which appear today in eLife, come on top of five published in January that delivered a mixed message about whether high-impact cancer research can be reproduced. Taken together, however, results from the completed studies are 'encouraging,”' says Sean Morrison of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, an eLife editor. Overall, he adds, independent labs have now 'reproduced substantial aspects' of the original experiments in four of five replication efforts that have produced clear results.

In the two new replication efforts, however, one key mouse experiment could not be repeated, suggesting ongoing problems with the reproducibility of animal studies, says one leader of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology."