Int J Mol Med 33: 1097-1109, 2014; DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2014.1672

Following the publication of the above article, a concerned reader drew to the authors' attention that the immunohistochemical data shown for the 'Collagen I/Control' panel in Fig. 5B on p. 1104, and the 'β-catenin/DKK' panel for the immunofluorescence data shown in Fig. 7B on p. 1106, subsequently appeared in a pair of later publications by the same research group. In addition, in Fig. 5B, the 'Vimentin/ALI' and 'Vimentin/ALI+MSC-GFP' data panels were found to contain an overlapping section, such that data which were intended to show the results of differently performed experiments had apparently been derived from the same original source. Furthermore, upon performing an independent analysis of the data in this paper in the Editorial Office, it also came to light that the 'α-SMA/ALI+MSC-CXCR4' data panel in Fig. 5B had subsequently reappeared in an article by the same research group; the Control panel for the 'MSC (GFP+)' experiment in Fig. 3A on p. 1102 was matching with the Control panel shown in Fig. 6A on p. 1105; certain of the β-actin and MMP2 protein bands shown for the ALI+MSC-CXCR4 and ALI+MSC-GFP experiments in Fig. 7A appeared to be identical in the two sets of western gels; and finally, in Fig. 5A, two sets of data [namely, the data for the IL-6 and TNF-α blots for the ALI+MSC-GFP experiments (central panel of blots), and the pair of Con and 3d 18S blots for the ALI experiments and the 7d and 14d 18S blots for the ALI+MSC-GFP experiments], bore strikingly resemblances to each other.

On re-examining their original data, the authors realized that they had inadvertently included some of the data incorrectly in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. The revised versions of these three figures, now featuring the correct data for Fig. 5A (the PCR analysis results of TNF-α and 18S in the ALI+MSC-GFP group), Fig. 5B (vimentin antibody immunohistochemical staining of the ALI+MSC-GFP group, α-SMA antibody immunohistochemical staining of the ALI+MSC-CXCR4 group, and Collagen I antibody immunohistochemical staining of the Control group); Fig. 6A (α-SMA immunofluorescence staining), Fig. 6C (IgG immunofluorescence staining), Fig. 7A (western blotting results of β-catenin in the ALI group, MMP2 and β-actin in the ALI+MSC-CXCR4 group, and MMP2 and β-actin in the ALI+MSC-GFP group) and Fig. 7B (β-catenin antibody immunofluorescence staining of the DKK1 group), are shown on the subsequent three pages. The image duplications were caused by accidental mix-up of the files during figure sorting and final manuscript preparation. The authors regret that they did not perform more rigorous cross-checking of the figures before submission. The corrected figures are consistent with the original experimental data; moreover, there are now no overlaps with any of the group's previously published work, Notably, the overall experimental results and scientific conclusions of the article remain entirely unchanged following the correction of these figures.

All the authors agree with the publication of this corrigendum, and they are grateful to the Editor of International Journal of Molecular Medicine for granting them the opportunity to publish this; furthermore, they apologize to the readership for any inconvenience caused.