Kanglaite Reverses Multidrug Resistance of HCC by Inducing Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest via PI3K/AKT Pathway [Retraction]

Yang C, Hou A, Yu C, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:983-996.

We, the Editors and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy, have retracted the following article.

Following publication of the article, the authors raised concerns regarding the duplication of images from Figure 3 with images from other articles. In addition, it was also found that images from Figure 6 were also duplicated with images from other articles. Specifically,

• The image for Figure 3A, HepG2/ADM, 0 µg/mL has been duplicated with the image for Figure 2a, HepG2/ADM, Control from Wang D, Yang C, Wang Z, et al. Norcantharidin combined with Coix seed oil synergistically induces apoptosis and inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma growth by downregulating regulatory T cells accumulation. Scientific Reports. 2017;9373. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09668-2
• The image for Figure 6D, β-actin, has been duplicated with the image for Figure 6B, PGAM5 from Xu W, Jing L, Wang Q, et al. Bax-PGAM5L-Drp1 complex is required for intrinsic apoptosis execution. Oncotarget. 2015;6:30017-30034. https://www.oncotarget.com/article/5013/text/ and Figure 7d, CTLA-4 from Wang D, et al (2017).

The authors were cooperative and explained the incorrect use of images occurred during figure preparation and the sharing of templates between authors. The authors also provided some of the original data for the study. However, the provided data and the author’s explanation regarding the duplicated images did not sufficiently alleviate the journal’s concerns regarding the validity of the findings. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article and the authors agree with this decision.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and COPE guidelines.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.