RETRACTED ARTICLE: OCT4 accelerates tumorigenesis through activating JAK/STAT signaling in ovarian cancer side population cells

This paper has been retracted.

Ruan Z, Yang X, Cheng W. Cancer Manag Res. 2019;11:389–399.

We, the Editors and Publisher of Cancer Management and Research, have retracted the following article.

Following publication of the article, concerns were raised about the duplication of images from Figures 2, 4 and 5 with images from other unrelated articles. Specifically,

• Images for Figure 2I have been duplicated with images for Figure 3b from Qin S, Zhao Y, Lim G, et al. Circular RNA PVT1 acts as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-497 in promoting non-small cell lung cancer progression. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2019;111:244-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.12.007 and Figure 5 from Wang D, Gao Y, Zhang Y, Wang L, Chen G; Glypican-3 promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis through up-regulation of β-catenin expression in lung squamous cell carcinoma. Biosci Rep. 2019;39(6):BSR20181147. https://doi.org/10.1042/BSR20181147.
• Images for Figure 4G have been duplicated with images for Figure 3C from Xu X, Chen Y, Wang X, Mu X. Role of Hippo/YAP signaling in irradiation-induced glioma cell apoptosis. Cancer Manag Res. 2019;11:7577-7585. https://doi.org/10.2147/CMAR.S210825.
• Images for Figure 4H have been duplicated with images for Figures 2G and 4C from Xu, M, Gu M, Zhou J, Da J, Wang Z. Interaction of YAP1 and mTOR promotes bladder cancer progression. International Journal of Oncology. 2020;56:232-242. RETRACTED https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2019.4922 and Gao Y, Zhang G, Liu J, Li H. Tissue-specific transplantation antigen P35B functions as an oncogene and is regulated by microRNA-125a-5p in lung cancer. Oncology Reports. 2021;45:72. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2021.8023, respectively.
• Images for Figure 5F have been duplicated with images for Figure 2C from Li Y, Tao C, Dai L, et al. MicroRNA-625 inhibits cell invasion and epithelial–mesenchymal transition by targeting SOX4 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Biosci Rep. 2019;39(1):BSR20181882. https://doi.org/10.1042/BSR20181882; Figure 2C from Gao Y, Zhang G, Liu J, Li H. Tissue-specific transplantation antigen P35B functions as an oncogene and is regulated by microRNA-125a-5p in lung cancer. Oncology Reports. 2021;45:72. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2021.8023; Figure 2E from Wang L, Kong W, Liu B, Zhang X. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis by up-regulating STAT3 in non-small cell lung cancer. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2018;104:595-602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.05.071 and Figure 3D and 5D from Yuan L, Tian J. LIN28B promotes the progression of colon cancer by increasing B-cell lymphoma 2 expression. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2018;103:355-361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.04.002.
• Images for Figure 5G have been duplicated with images for Figure 3I from Yang J, Yu L, Yan J, et al. Circular RNA DGKB Promotes the Progression of Neuroblastoma by Targeting miR-873/GLI1 Axis. Front. Oncol. 2020;10:1104. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.01104 and Figure 5J from Du M, Shen P, Tan R, Wu D, Tu S. Aloe-emodin inhibits the proliferation, migration, and invasion of melanoma cells via inactivation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway. Ann Transl Med. 2021;9(23):1722. https://doi.org/10.21037/atm-21-5437.

The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the duplicated images or provide satisfactory 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”.