How to read a scientific paper

Purpose of Scientific MS
• Convey novel scientific data to a specified
audience
– Specified audience: highly educated,
extensive scientific training
– Little training in composition
 Sections of a MS
• Abstract: brief (less than 200 words)
summary of major background information,
methods, novel findings and how this data
relates to science
• Introduction: less than two page
summary of salient background information
– The introduction should be concise, but should
also review all relevant literature
– Cover in about two sentences major finds in
the research being reported
 Sections of MS cont…
• Materials and Methods: Should be in depth
enough so that a person with reasonable
knowledge of the field could replicate (requires use
of citations)
• Results: States the data derived from the M&M in
written and figure form.
• Discussion/Conclusion/Summary: Should briefly
state the major conclusions of the new data
– More importantly the discussion should discuss how the
new data relates to the current scientific knowledge in the
field
 Sections of MS cont…
• References/Literature Cited/Bibliography:
List any work citied in the text
Several different styles are used, the style
depends on the journal
Improper formatting of references can result
in a MS being rejected or recalled
 Paper for discussion
• Inhibitors of mTOR Reverse Doxorubicin
Conferred by PTEN Status in Prostate
Cancer Cells
– Grunwald, V., et. al.
– Cancer Research, vol. 62
– 2002
 Reading a scientific MS
• Inhibitors of mTOR Reverse Doxorubicin Resistance Conferred by
PTEN Status in Prostate Cancer Cells

– CANCER RESEARCH 62, 6141–6145, November 1, 2002

– Viktor Gru¨nwald, Linda DeGraffenried, Douglas Russel, William E.

Friedrichs, Ratna B. Ray, and Manuel Hidalgo

– The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore,

Maryland 21231 [V. G., M. H.]; The University of Texas Health Science Center,
San Antonio,Texas 78229 [L. D., D. R., W. E. F.]; and Department of Pathology,
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 63104 [R. B. R.]
 Goals
• Understand novel findings
• Relate these novel findings to the field
• Learn a new method
• Increase knowledge in a particular subject
area
• Determine what others are doing
• Lend credence to your work
• Create ideas
 Define major points in title

• Question being answered- What scientific question are the authors proposing to answer
– Does inhibition of mTOR reverse drug resistance in prostate cancer cells with a defined PTEN status?

• Model- system that experiments are being conducted in

– human prostate cancer cells

• Unfamiliar terms- mTOR (inhibitors), doxorubicin (resistance), PTEN, prostate cancer

– mTOR- mammalian target of rapamycin
– PTEN-phosphatase and tensin homolouge delected from chromosome 10
– Doxorubicin- chemotherapeutic agent used to treat prostate cancer

• Sometimes it is good to find a review article to help explain the background information in less detail.
 Example of Review Article
• mTOR-targeted therapy of cancer with
rapamycin derivatives
– S. Vignot1†, S. Faivre2†, D. Aguirre2 & E.
Raymond1,2*
– Annals of Oncology 16: 525–537, 2005

• http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint
/16/4/525
PTEN/PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling
GFR and PI3K signaling
PI3K/mTOR signaling and cell
function
 Abstract
• Brief summary of entire article
• From the abstract you should be able to
find out:
– the major question being addressed
– model system used
– definitions of unfamiliar terms (varies)
• What are these in the assigned MS?
 Introduction
• Will provide background information to support
the main question
• Typically describes past pertinent literature
• Explains major proteins (nucleic acid,
carbohydrate, enzyme, method etc.) involved in
study
• At times may state why a certain method was
used
• Briefly states general conclusions as they relate
to background
– How are these topics addressed in the assigned MS
 Grunwald, et al. 2002
• Background detailing mTOR and PI3K are discussed
– mTOR and PI3K as it relates to prostate cancer, chemo-resistant
growth

• Cites literature to strengthen claims

– Cites articles so that initial identification of PTEN as tumor
suppressor (1), how PTEN regulates tumor growth in mouse
model (9)

• Last paragraph of intro, summarized major conclusions

– Found a correlation between PTEN-/- and resistance to
chemotherapy
 Results
• Will show data to support or falsify
hypothesis (hypotheses)
• Data: Qualitative or Quantitative
• Data: Graphs, Tables, Charts, Pathology
Slides, movies (now), fluorescent pictures
• What type of data is used in this paper?
– Should there be more/less data?
 Fig. 1. PTEN status confers
chemoresistance in prostate cancer cells
Fig. 2. Transfection of PTEN leads to
loss of hyperactivated Akt
 Fig. 3. Stable PTEN expression leads to
doxorubicin susceptibility but not to increased
response to rapamycin
 Fig. 4. Rapamycin reverses drug
resistance conferred by loss of PTEN
 Fig. 5. CCI-779 enhances
doxorubicin response in PTEN-
negative prostate xenografts
 Results
• Will show data to support or falsify
hypothesis (hypotheses)
• Data: Qualitative or Quantitative
• Data: Graphs, Tables, Charts, Pathology
Slides, movies (now), fluorescent pictures
• What type of data is used in this paper?
– Should there be more/less data?
 Discussion
• This section should discuss the main conclusions and
scientific findings of the paper
• This section should also state how this new data/study
advance the knowledge of the field
• What is different about the discussion section in this
paper?
• Does this paper meet this criteria?
 References
• This section should cite enough information
for you to find the cited articles with a online
search engine
– Pubmed, Google scholar, Web of Science, etc.)
• Does this paper meet this criteria?