Mol Med Rep 11: [Related article:] 2315–2321, 2015; DOI:
10.3892/mmr.2014.2949
Following the publication of this article, an
interested reader drew to the Editor's attention that a pair of
data panels in the cellular images shown in Fig. 1A on p. 2317
appeared to be overlapping, such that data which were intended to
show the results from differently performed experiments had
appparently been derived from the same original source. Moreover,
in Fig. 1C and 5A, there appeared to be discrete splicing events
for gel slices featured in these figure parts, and for the
immunoblotting experiments shown in Fig. 2B, striking likenesses of
certain of the bands appeared in different positions in different
gels relative to each other where different experimental conditions
were being shown, which seemed difficult to attribute purely to
coincidence.
After having conducted an internal investigation,
the Editor of Molecular Medicine Reports agrees with the
reader that there were anomalies associated with the presentation
of Figs. 1, 2 and 5. Therefore, on the grounds of a lack of
confidence in the presented data, the Editor has decided that the
article should be retracted from the publication. Upon contacting
the authors, all the authors agreed with the decision to retract
this paper, except for Dr Randal Johnston, who was not contactable
owing to his retirement several years ago. The Editor apologizes to
the readership for any inconvenience caused, and we also thank the
reader for bringing this matter to our attention.
