Correction to: British Journal of Cancer (2002) 86, 917–923.doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6600156 We have reviewed our data about the cloning of the novel putative SIR-like gene and we accept Dr Frye's assertions (Frye, 2002). We are grateful to him for his corrections. Therefore, we retract the claim for a novel SIR-like gene, SIR-T8.