Summary
Nature Medicine has issued an Editorial Expression of Concern about a 2015 letter on EZH2 dependence in SWI/SNF-mutant cancers. The notice identifies similarities in several figure panels and says the original data are no longer available.
Nature Medicine has issued an Editorial Expression of Concern about a 2015 letter that examined whether cancers carrying mutations in the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodelling system depend on EZH2 activity. The notice, published on 18 September 2026, identifies apparent similarities in several figure panels and says the paper’s original data are no longer available because of the article’s age.
The journal advises readers to interpret the affected data with caution. The notice is attached to the 2015 article rather than presenting new experimental results.
The figure concerns identified by the journal
The concerns relate to three sets of images:
- In Fig. 2d and 2f, the H3K27me3 blot images appear highly similar, although they were shown with different exposure settings.
- In Supplementary Fig. 2a, the image for well 6 of the A549 cell line and the image for well 4 of the TOV21G cell line appear highly similar.
- In Supplementary Fig. 4g, all wells in the RCC4 and H1299 plates appear highly similar.
H3K27me3 is a chemical modification of histone H3, a protein around which DNA is organised. Blotting experiments are commonly used to detect and compare proteins or molecular marks such as this one. A549, TOV21G, RCC4 and H1299 are cancer cell-line designations appearing in the cited figures.
The expression of concern does not provide replacement images or a reanalysis. Nature Medicine says that the original data are no longer available due to the age of the article, limiting the material available for resolving the figure questions.
Why the notice affects interpretation of the study
The 2015 letter, titled “SWI/SNF-mutant cancers depend on catalytic and non-catalytic activity of EZH2”, concerned the relationship between two important regulators of gene activity. SWI/SNF is a chromatin-remodelling system that helps control how DNA is packaged and accessed. EZH2 is an enzyme involved in regulating gene expression, including through histone modification; its catalytic activity refers to its ability to carry out a chemical reaction, while non-catalytic activity refers to functions not based on that reaction.
The study’s central biological question was whether particular cancer cells with altered SWI/SNF components rely on EZH2 in more than one way. That question is relevant to efforts to understand molecular dependencies in cancer and to the design of treatments aimed at specific cellular pathways. The expression of concern, however, focuses on the presentation and availability of data supporting parts of the 2015 report.
Authors’ response and the paper’s status
The notice says that Kimberly H. Kim, Woojin Kim, Thomas P. Howard, Francisca Vazquez, Aviad Tsherniak, Weishan Wang, Jeffrey R. Haswell, Loren D. Walensky, William C. Hahn, Stuart H. Orkin and Charles W. M. Roberts agreed with the Editorial Expression of Concern. Jennifer N. Wu could not be reached by email, according to the journal.
Nature Medicine has advised caution in interpreting the affected results. The notice records a formal editorial warning about the 2015 article; it does not present a new experiment or a revised set of findings.