We, the Publisher and Editor of Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, are issuing an Expression of Concern for the following article:
Lina Lv, Jing Zhang, Fengqun Tian, Xia Li, Dandan Li & Xiulian Yu (2019) Arbutin protects HK-2 cells against high glucose-induced apoptosis and autophagy by up-regulating microRNA-27a. Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 47(1), 2940–2947, DOI: 10.1080/21691401.2019.1640231
After publication of this article, questions about the scientific integrity of the article content were brought to the Publisher and Editor’s attention. We reached out to the authors requesting that they supply information that would confirm the article’s integrity. The authors provided several files in response to our queries, but they were unable to provide the original data in a format which satisfies our requirements to confirm the authenticity of some types of data. In particular, they were unable to provide full western blots, where the molecular weight markers are indicated. Therefore, as we continue to work through the issues raised, we advise readers to interpret the information presented in the article with due caution.
The authors have been notified about this Expression of Concern.