Mol Med Rep 12: [Related article:] 210–218, 2015; DOI:
10.3892/mmr.2015.3423
Following the publication of the above paper, a
concerned reader has drawn the Editor's attention to the fact that
the western blot data used to portray the Sox9 and Col2a1 data in
Fig. 1C were strikingly similar, although the dimensions of the
bands in these figure parts differed. After having conducted an
independent investigation of the data in this paper in the
Editorial Office, it also came to light that various of the western
blot protein bands featured in Figs. 1E, 3C and 4C bore striking
similarities to data in other figure parts, where different
experiments were intended to have been portrayed, albeit with the
apparent resizing of the data bands in some cases, or in one case,
where the experimental lanes in the figure parts were labelled
differently (Fig. 1E vs. Fig. 3C).
Given the identification of these duplications of
the data in this paper, the Editor of Molecular Medicine
Reports has determined that it should be retracted from the
Journal on account of a lack of confidence in the authenticity of
the presented data. The authors were asked for an explanation to
account for these concerns, but the Editorial Office did not
receive a reply. The Editor regrets any inconvenience that has been
caused to the readership of the Journal.
