Exp Ther Med 20:[Related article:] 3868–3877, 2020; DOI:
10.3892/etm.2020.9113
Following the publication of this paper, it was
drawn to the Editor’s attention by a concerned reader that the
above paper contained a number of unexpected similarities with an
apparently related pre-print article
(doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-127973/v1) that appeared in Research
Square which, to date, has not been formally submitted elsewhere
for publication. The above article and the pre-print article were
noted to share the same ethical approval and clinical trial
registration numbers, in addition to unexpectedly similar data that
had been noted in the Tables.
The Editorial Office conducted an independent
investigation of these concerns, and asked the authors to comment
on the issues raised by the interested reader. Subsequently, it was
noted that, on February 24 2024, Research Square have retracted the
preprint article on account of the concerns regarding the alignment
of the pre-print article with the above-mentioned article and the
divergent research protocols and outcomes, in spite of both studies
citing the same clinical trial registration number. Moreover, the
authors’ responses to the queries raised were found not to be
entirely satisafactory. Therefore, the Editor of Experimental
and Therapeutic Medicine has decided that this paper should be
retracted from the Journal on account of a lack of confidence in
the presented data. After having been in contact with the authors,
they accepted the decision to retract the paper. The Editor
apologizes to the readership for any inconvenience caused.
