RETRACTED ARTICLE: Overexpression of Mst1 reduces gastric cancer cell viability by repressing the AMPK-Sirt3 pathway and activating mitochondrial fission

This paper has been retracted.

Yao S, Yan W. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:8465–8479.

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 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 with images from other unrelated articles. Specifically,

• Images for Figure 1H have been duplicated with images for Figure 1b from Ji K, Lin K, Wang Y, et al. TAZ inhibition promotes IL-2-induced apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by activating the JNK/F-actin/mitochondrial fission pathway. Cancer Cell Int. 2018;18:117. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-018-0615-y; Figure 2H from Feng J, Li H, Zhang Y, et al. Mammalian STE20-Like Kinase 1 Deletion Alleviates Renal Ischaemia-Reperfusion Injury via Modulating Mitophagy and the AMPK-YAP Signalling Pathway. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry. 2018;51(5):2359–2376. https://doi.org/10.1159/000495896 and Figure 4G from Wei B, Wang M, Hao W, He X. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mst1 facilitates hyperglycemia-induced retinal pigmented epithelial cell apoptosis by evoking mitochondrial stress and activating the Smad2 signaling pathway. Cell Stress and Chaperones. 2019;24:259–272. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-018-00963-z.
• Images for Figure 1K have been duplicated with images for Figure 1H, Figure 4H and Figure 5f from Geng C, Wei J, Wu C. Yap-Hippo pathway regulates cerebral hypoxia-reoxygenation injury in neuroblastoma N2a cells via inhibiting ROCK1/F-actin/mitochondrial fission pathways. Acta Neurol Belg. 2020;120:879–892. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13760-018-0944-6 and Wei B, et al (2019), respectively.
• Images for Figure 2G have been duplicated with images for Figure 2C from Li P, Zhao S, Hu Y. SFRP2 modulates non‑small cell lung cancer A549 cell apoptosis and metastasis by regulating mitochondrial fission via Wnt pathways. Molecular Medicine Reports. 2019;20:1925–1932. https://doi.org/10.3892/mmr.2019.10393 and Figure 7a from Ji K, et al (2018).
• Images for Figure 3A have been duplicated with images for Figure 1D and 3J from Zhang, W, Liu K, Pei Y, Ma J, Tan J, Zhao J. Mst1 regulates non-small cell lung cancer A549 cell apoptosis by inducing mitochondrial damage via ROCK1/F‑actin pathways. International Journal of Oncology. 2018;53:2409–2422. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2018.4586; Figure 1H from Xu P, Zhang G, Sha L, Hou S. RETRACTED: DUSP1 alleviates cerebral ischaemia reperfusion injury via inactivating JNKMff pathways and repressing mitochondrial fission. Life Sciences. 2018;210:251–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2018.08.049; Figure 4C from Zhao S, Li P, Wang P, et al. “Nurr1 promotes lung cancer apoptosis via enhancing mitochondrial stress and p53-Drp1 pathway”. Open Life Sciences. 2019;14(1):262–274. https://doi.org/10.1515/biol-2019-0030 and Figure 4C from Jieensinue S, Zhu H, Li G, et al. Tanshinone IIA reduces SW837 colorectal cancer cell viability via the promotion of mitochondrial fission by activating JNK-Mff signaling pathways. BMC Cell Biol. 2018;19:21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12860-018-0174-z.
• Images for Figure 3H have been duplicated with images for Figure 6F and Figure 7A from Zhang W, et al (2018) and Zhang J, Sun L, Li W, et al. Overexpression of macrophage stimulating 1 enhances the anti-tumor effects of IL-24 in esophageal cancer via inhibiting ERK-Mfn2 signaling-dependent mitophagy. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2019;114:108844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2019.108844, respectively.
• Images for Figure 4A have been duplicated with images for Figure 3A from Chen Z, Wang C, Yu N, et al. INF2 regulates oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in epidermal HaCaT cells by modulating the HIF1 signaling pathway. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2019;111:151–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.12.046.
• Images for Figure 4C have been duplicated with images for Figure 3H from Zhou T, Chang L, Luo Y, Zhou Y, Zhang J. Mst1 inhibition attenuates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease via reversing Parkin-related mitophagy. Redox Biology. 2019;21:101120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2019.101120.
• Images for Figure 5A have been duplicated with images for Figure 1O from Xu P, et al (2018).
• Images for Figure 6A have been duplicated with images for Figure 1a from Zhang X, Li F, Cui Y, et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mst1 overexpression combined with Yap knockdown augments thyroid carcinoma apoptosis via promoting MIEF1-related mitochondrial fission and activating the JNK pathway. Cancer Cell Int. 2019;19:143. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-019-0860-8 and Figure 5A from Ouyang H, Zhou E, Wang H. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mst1-Hippo pathway triggers breast cancer apoptosis via inducing mitochondrial fragmentation in a manner dependent on JNK–Drp1 axis. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:1147–1159. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S193787.
• Images for Figure 6D have been duplicated with images for Figure 5H from Cao J, Wei R, Yao S. Matrine has pro-apoptotic effects on liver cancer by triggering mitochondrial fission and activating Mst1-JNK signalling pathways. J Physiol Sci. 2019;69:185–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12576-018-0634-4.

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”.