- Retraction Note
- Published:
- Liang Zeng1 na1,
- Zhaohui Ruan1,3 na1,
- Qun Zeng4 na1,
- Huan Yan1,
- Wenjuan Jiang5,
- Yi Xiong5,
- Chunhua Zhou5,
- Haiyan Yang5,
- Li Liu5,
- Jiacheng Dai1,
- Nachuan Zou1,
- Shidong Xu1,2,
- Ya Wang5,
- Zhan Wang5,
- Jun Deng1,
- Xue Chen1,
- Jing Wang1,
- Hua Xiang6,
- Xiaomei Li7,
- Boris Duchemann7,8,
- Guoqiang Chen ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4936-23639,
- Yang Xia ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2487-224410,
- Tony Mok ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8251-055111,12,
- Christoph Scheiermann ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9212-09954,13,14,15,
- Francis Lévi ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1364-74637,16,17,
- Nong Yang ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0997-36455,18 &
- …
- Yongchang Zhang ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6829-71761,2,5,19
Nature Medicine volume 32, page 2691 (2026) Cite this article
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Retraction to: Retraction Note to Huang, Z., Zeng, L., Ruan, Z. et al. Time-of-day immunochemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a randomized phase 3 trial. Nat Med 32, 1233–1240 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-04181-w
After publication, concerns were raised about substantial changes made to the study registration on (NCT05549037). Key elements, including endpoints, eligibility criteria, sample size, and study design, appear to have been inconsistently reported and modified over time. In addition, the translated version of the study protocol published with the manuscript was dated 2022 but contained references to studies published in 2023 and 2024. Upon further investigation, other discrepancies were identified between the original version of the study protocol in Chinese, and the translated versions provided to the journal during the peer review process and for publication. The authors’ explanations for these issues largely were attributed to administrative errors rather than prospectively documented amendments.
Additionally, there were multiple concerns surrounding unexpected data patterns in the study, such as the shape of progression-free survival (PFS) curve being smoother than what is most commonly observed in similar large phase 3 trials; the absence of censoring in the first year of the study; the absence of adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation throughout the trial; and the similar rates of immune-related adverse events in the trial’s two arms despite the differences in therapeutic efficacy. These concerns were compounded by the source data provided by the authors indicating that randomization was performed on the day of treatment for almost all patients, which is uncommon; and their acknowledgement of deviations from fixed-calendar imaging schedules due to COVID-19 related delays and cycle-based assessment, indicating a lack of adherence to standard RECIST timing recommendations.
The authors have provided a time-stamped version of the original study protocol and ethics approval alongside certified translations, as well as tabulated source data. However, due to the amount and nature of the problems identified, the editors no longer have confidence in the integrity of the results.
Authors Zhe Huang, Liang Zeng, Zhaohui Ruan, Qun Zeng, Huan Yan, Jiacheng Dai, Nachuan Zou, Shidong Xu, Xue Chen, Xiaomei Li, Boris Duchemann, Yang Xia, Christoph Scheiermann, Francis Lévi, Tony Mok, Nong Yang and Yongchang Zhang agree with the retraction.
Authors Wenjuan Jiang, Yi Xiong, Chunhua Zhou, Haiyan Yang, Li Liu, Ya Wang, Zhan Wang, Jun Deng, Jing Wang, Hua Xiang, Guoqiang Chen did not respond to any correspondences from the editors about this retraction.
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Huang, Z., Zeng, L., Ruan, Z. et al. Retraction Note: Time-of-day immunochemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer: a randomized phase 3 trial. Nat Med 32, 2691 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04508-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04508-1