KIF4A Promotes Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC) Proliferation in vitro and in vivo [Retraction]

Yang GH, Ren ZX, Yang X, Zhang YG. Onco Targets Ther. 2020;13:2667–2676.

The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy are retracting the published article. An investigation by the Publisher found duplication in images from other articles by different author groups. Specifically,

• Western blot images in Figure 3B, HTB-47 and CRL-1932, have been duplicated with the same images from Figure 2, U-2 OS, in Wang Z, Ren S, Ren J. Phosphotyrosine picked threonine kinase stimulates proliferation of human osteosarcoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Archives of Medical Science. 2022;18(3):777–785. doi:10.5114/aoms/115135 and Figure 2, HTB-47 and CRL-1932, in Liu X D, Yao D W, Xin F. TTK contributes to tumor growth and metastasis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma by inducing cell proliferation and invasion. Neoplasma. 2019;66(6):946–953. doi:https://doi.org/10.4149/neo_2019_190207N109.
• Cell colony images in Figure 4A, HTB-47, have been duplicated with the same images from Figure 3A, MDA-MB-231, in Zhang J, Yin Y-T, Wu C-H, et al. AK4 Promotes the Progression of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer by Facilitating Cell Proliferation and Invasion. Disease Markers. 2019; Article ID 8186091, 9 pages. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8186091 and Figure 4A, 5637 cell, in Gao, Z-Y, Yu, F, Jia, H-X, Ye, Z, Yao, S-J. ASPM predicts poor prognosis and regulates cell proliferation in bladder cancer. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2020;36:1021–1029. https://doi.org/10.1002/kjm2.12284.
• Immunohistochemistry images in Figures 5B, control and 5C, shRNA, have been duplicated with the same images from Figure 5D, in Xin F, Yao DW, Fan L. et al. Adenylate kinase 4 promotes bladder cancer cell proliferation and invasion. Clin Exp Med. 2019;19:525–534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-019-00576-5.

The authors cooperated with the investigation but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for how the images came to be duplicated, and the validity of the published work could not be verified. Therefore, the Editor and Publisher are retracting the article and the authors have been notified.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity 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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.