Wang X, Chen X, Tian Y, Jiang D, Song Y. Onco Targets Ther. 2020;13:1691–1704.
The Editor-in-chief and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised of alleged image duplication occurring in flow cytometry images found within the article and across other publications for unrelated studies. Specifically:
Figure 2C panel AGS si-RGMB-AS1, Figure 4C panel MGC-803 agomir-574 and Figure 6B panel MGC-803 si-RGMB-AS1+antagomir-NC all share an acceptable level of similarity to each other and images found in:
Figure 4B panel Eca109 miR-411 mimics and Figure 6C panel TE-1 miR-411 mimics+pcDNA3.1 published in Song et al, 2019 (https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S214881).
Figure 2C panel MCF-7 si-LINC02163 published in Qin et al, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.3727/096504020X15928179818438).
The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the alleged duplication or provide raw data for the flow cytometry experiments. It was determined the findings of the study could not be supported and the decision was made to retract the article. The authors agree with this decision.
Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction.
The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.