Kang X, Kong F, Wu S, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:4167–4179.
The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarded the alleged duplication of images in Figures 5C and 8A with similar images from unrelated articles, specifically:
Figure 5C, panel A549 BRD4 siRNA appears to have been duplicated with a similar image in Figure 2D, panel H522 miR-802 mimics from Zhang et al, 2019 (https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2019.4765).
Figure 5C panels H522 and A549; NC siRNA, BRD4 siRNA appear to have been duplicated with similar images in Figures 2D, panel pcDNA3.1; pHAND2-AS1 and 3D panels si-NC; siHAND2-AS1 from Yu et al, 2020 (https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S233256).
Figure 8A, agomir-NC appears to have been duplicated with a similar image in Figure 8A, NC mimics from Yun et al, 2019 (https://doi.org/10.2147/CMAR.S198615).
The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide an explanation for the alleged image duplication and could not provide the original raw data for their study and have therefore agreed to retract the article.
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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.