Mol Med Rep 21: [Related article:] 123–130, 2020; DOI:
10.3892/mmr.2019.10832
Following the publication of this paper, it was
drawn to the Editor's attention by a concerned reader that,
regarding the immunohistochemistry experiments shown in Fig. 4A,
the ‘Tak-242’ and the ‘Se+Tak-242’ panels appeared to show an
overlapping section of data, and for the western blot data shown in
Figs. 6 and 7, the β-actin data in Fig. 6A were strikingly similar
to the NF-κB data in Fig. 7A, such that data which were intended to
show the results from differently performed experiments had
apparently been derived from the same original sources. Following
an independent analysis of the data in the Editorial Office, a
small overlapping section of data was also identified comparing the
‘Tak-242’ and ‘Se’ panels for the cellular morphological images in
Fig. 5A, and the western blots featured in Fig. 6A were found to
have subsequently reappeared in a paper written by different
authors at different research institutes in the journal Drug
Design, Development and Therapy.
In view of the various instances of data duplication
identified in this paper, and the reappearance of certain of the
data in a subsequent article, the Editor of Molecular Medicine
Reports has decided that this paper should be retracted from
the Journal on account of a 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 for any
inconvenience caused.
