CCDC7 Activates Interleukin-6 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor to Promote Proliferation via the JAK-STAT3 Pathway in Cervical Cancer Cells [Retraction]

Zhou C, He X, Zeng Q, Zhang P, Wang C. Onco Targets Ther. 2020;13:6229-6244.

The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy are retracting the published article. The authors requested to correct the duplication of images in Figure 7, however it was found that several other images within the article were also duplicated. Specifically,

• The image for Figure 2B, Vector; Merge has been duplicated with the image for Figure 9A, -++-.
• The images for Figure 2B, Control; Hochst 33342, EdU and Merge have been duplicated with the images for Figure 3B, siControl; Hochst 33342, EdU and Merge.
• The images for Figure 7A, CCDC7; NS and Control are duplicated.
• The images for Figure 8, normal; anti-CCDC7, anti-IL-6 and anti-VEGF all share overlapping regions and are derived from the same image.
• The image for Figure S2, Control 1 has been duplicated with the image for Figure 3B siCCDC7-3, Merge.
• The image for Figure S2, Inhibited 2 has been duplicated with Figure S2, Control 6.
• The image for Figure S2, Inhibited 4 has been duplicated with the image for Figure 9A+---.
• The image for Figure S2, Inhibited 5 has been duplicated with the image for Figure9A-+--.

The authors cooperated with our queries and explained that errors were made during the assembly of the figures. In addition, the authors also provided the journal with original data from their study. However, the errors did raise concerns over the reliability and validity of the findings and the Editor and Publisher made the decision to retract the article and the authors agreed with this decision.

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

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.