To Erickson, this meant that any study that has used an Elisa is suspect. He said he is alarmed at the number of papers that have been published on irisin which used Elisas -- more than 170 papers, according to a press release by Duke University.
“Many research labs around the world are spending serious money on these studies, and we wanted to get their attention,” said Erickson in an interview. He concluded that there is “no credible evidence that irisin exists in the blood of any animal."
Riled by Erickson’s assertion that irisin was a "myth," Spiegelman went back to the lab to gather more data and has shot back with a new paper, published Aug. 13 in the journal Cell Metabolism, measuring irisin in human blood with a method known as mass spectrometry. Erickson now concedes that irisin may exist, but said in a phone interview that Spiegelman has yet to prove irisin can actually induce white fat to behave like brown fat.
The sparring between Spiegelman and Erickson shows how challenging biology can be and how long it can take to nail down mechanisms in the body. It takes more than 10 years, on average, to research and develop a new drug, according to industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
And, in the case of irisin, Third Rock wasn’t willing to wait any longer for human trials to begin. That’s been a rude awakening for Spiegelman.
“You get two to three years,” he said. “And if it’s not looking like it’s just about to go into the clinic, you’re toast.”