Int J Oncol 43: [Related article:] 1777-1786, 2013; DOI:
10.3892/ijo.2013.2127
Following the publication of the above paper, a
concerned reader drew to the Editor's attention that, in Fig. 6,
the same data appeared to have been included in three of the flow
cytometric plots featured in this figure (for the Non-treated,
Scrambled and SiRNAi BIK experiments). Moreover, the control
β-actin western blots in Figs. 2B, 4A and 8B appeared to be the
same (although, in these cases, the lanes for the blots were
labelled up identically, and so these apparent duplications may not
have represented an incorrect assembly of these figures);
similarly, the control blots in Fig. 7A and B were also matching.
However, the control β-actin western blots in three other figure
parts (Fig. 1C and 7A/B) were also duplicated, and in this case,
the numbers of lanes in the gel slices were different / the lanes
were labelled differently.
The authors were contacted by the Editorial Office
to offer an explanation for these potential anomalies in the
presentation of the data in this paper, although up to this time,
no response from them has been forthcoming. Owing to the fact that
the Editorial Office has been made aware of potential issues
surrounding the scientific integrity of this paper, the Editor of
International Journal of Oncology has decided that this
paper should be retracted from the Journal on account of a lack of
confidence in the presented data. The Editor apologizes to the
readership for any inconvenience caused.
