Mol Med Rep 15: [Related article:] 442–450, 2017; DOI:
10.3892/mmr.2016.5999
Following the publication of the above paper, the
following areas of concern associated with the western blot data
featured in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 were drawn to the Editor's attention
by a concerned reader, essentially involving the apparent incorrect
assembly of blots within these figures and duplications of data: i)
Control blots were shared between Figs. 3A and 5A, where the
experimental conditions were reported to be different; ii) MDM2
blots may have been featured incorrectly in Figs. 4B and 5A, as the
control blots/reported experimental conditions featured in these
figure parts appeared to be the same; and iii) there was also the
probable duplication of protein bands of interest comparing Fig. 5A
and B. A subsequent analysis of the data in this paper performed by
the Editorial Office also revealed the potential re-use of data in
a paper that was published a year later, also in the journal
Molecular Medicine Reports, albeit no authors were held in
common comparing these papers, and that paper has since been
retracted on account of the re-use of data with another
article:
Given the identification of the above problems
associated with the assembly of data in three of the figures in
this paper, the Editor has decided that it 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.
