Int J Mol Med 44: [Related article:] 593-607, 2019; DOI:
10.3892/ijmm.2019.4206
Following the publication of the above article, a
concerned reader drew to the Editor's attention that, in Fig. 1D,
the 'SW1990' and 'Bxpc-3' data panels were overlapping, suggesting
that these data were derived from the same original source where
experiments showing different experimental conditions were intended
to have been portrayed. In addition, further pairings of
overlapping data panels were identified with the Ki67 assay data
shown in Figs. 7E and the immunohistochemical data shown in Fig.
10C, suggesting that these figures had similarly been assembled
incorrectly. Furthermore, four of the centrally placed flow
cytometric plots featured in Fig. 5A appeared to be too similar in
terms of the distribution of the data to be confident that these
were all derived from independently performed experiments, and
finally, some of the western blot data shown in Fig. 4B were
strikingly similar to data which had already appeared in another
paper, also published in International Journal of Molecular
Medicine, that featured the same first author (Guanen
Qiao).
In view of the number of different problems and
potential anomalies identified with various of the figures in this
paper, the Editor of International Journal of Molecular
Medicine has decided that this paper should be retracted from
the journal on account of an overall lack of confidence in the
presented data. The authors were asked for an explanation to
account for these concerns, but the Editorial Office did not
receive a satisfactory reply. The Editor apologizes to the
readership of the Journal for any inconvenience caused.
