Mol Med Rep 12: [Related article:] 4396–4402, 2015; DOI:
10.3892/mmr.2015.3912
Following the publication of the above paper, it was
drawn to the Editor's attention by a concerned reader that the
following anomalies/potential areas of concern appeared to be
associated with the western blot data featured in Figs. 2, 4 and 6
(including the description of additional features that came to
light based upon an independent analysis of the data in this paper
that was undertaken by the Editorial Office):
i) There were overlapping data bands comparing the
cyclin D1 and β-actin bands in Fig. 2C and D with those in Fig. 4B,
where the figure legends indicated that the experimental conditions
for these figures were different; and ii) in Fig. 6A, two pairings
of cyclin D1 blots appeared to be duplicated/doubled up (giving
rise to four sets of blots), and moreover, the associated β-actin
blots also appeared to exhibit different overlaps of individual
bands/pairs of bands.
Given the identification of so many instances of
data duplication comparing both within and between the
abovementioned figures in this paper, the Editor has decided that
this paper should be retracted from the Journal on account 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 apologizes to the readership
for any inconvenience caused.
