LncRNA FTX Promotes Proliferation and Invasion of Gastric Cancer via miR-144/ZFX Axis [Retraction]

Li H, Yao G, Zhai J, Hu D, Fan Y. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:11701–11713.

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

Following publication of the article, concerns were raised about the duplication of images from Figures 4 and 5 with images from other unrelated articles. Specifically,

• The image for Figure 4B, BGC803, pcFTX, has been duplicated with the image for Figure 5C, DU145, si-HDGF from Situ J, Zhang H, Jin Z, Li K, Mao Y, Huang W. MicroRNA-939 Directly Targets HDGF to Inhibit the Aggressiveness of Prostate Cancer via Deactivation of the WNT/β-Catenin Pathway. Onco Targets Ther. 2020;13:4257-4270. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S250101 (RETRACTED).
• The image for Figure 4D, BGC823, pcFTX, has been duplicated with the image for Figure 4G, Inhibitor from Wang M, Yu R, Ling X, et al. COPB2 promotes metastasis and inhibits apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma cells through functioning as a target of miR-216a-3p. Transl Cancer Res. 2020;9(4):2648-2659. http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tcr.2020.02.65.
• The images for Figure 5B, ctrl and pcFTX+miR-144, have been duplicated with the images for Figure 7A, BCAP-37, Mimics, and Figure 2C, Y79, Agomir-NC, from Zhang L, Ding F. Hsa_circ_0008945 promoted breast cancer progression by targeting miR-338-3p. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:6577-6589. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S213994 and Xu L, Li W, Shi Q, et al. MicroRNA‑936 inhibits the malignant phenotype of retinoblastoma by directly targeting HDAC9 and deactivating the PI3K/AKT pathway. Oncology Reports. 2020;43:635-645. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2020.7456 (RETRACTED), respectively.
• In addition, the images for Figure 4D, BGC823, Ctrl and Figure 5D, pcFTX+miR-144, have been duplicated.

The authors did not respond to our queries and were unable to provide an explanation for the duplicated images or provide data for the study. 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 were notified of this.

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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.