Int J Oncol 38: [Related article:] 733-744, 2011; DOI:
10.3892/ijo.2010.883
Following the publication of the above article, a
concerned reader drew to the Editor's attention that there were
anomalies associated with the cellular images shown in Fig. 1A;
essentially, groupings of cells/cellular features appeared to be
strikingly similar in appearance, looking internally within four of
the eight data panels in this figure. A similar phenomenon of
strikingly similar features was observed in the majority of the
panels showing spheroid formation assay data in Fig. 8A. Moreover,
regarding the western blots shown in Fig. 2B for the D283 cell
line, the protein bands shown for E-cadherin for the normoxia and
hypoxia cells [the (N) lanes] were strikingly similar, suggesting
that the gels in this figure may have featured inappropriate
editing. Finally, some of the western blot data featured in Fig. 5C
were very similar to data that had appeared in a paper by the same
authors published in the journal PLoS One.
After having conducted an internal investigation of
the data in this paper, the Editor of International Journal of
Oncology has decided that this article should be retracted from
the journal on the grounds of a lack of confidence in the data. The
authors were asked for an explanation to account for these
concerns, but the Editorial Office did not receive a reply. The
Editor sincerely apologizes to the readership for any inconvenience
caused, and we thank the reader for bringing this matter to our
attention.
