Long Non-Coding RNA TRG-AS1 Promoted Proliferation and Invasion of Lung Cancer Cells Through the miR-224-5p/SMAD4 Axis [Retraction]

Zhang M, Zhu W, Haeryfar M, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2020;14:4415–4426.

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

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

• Images for Figure 2D have been duplicated with images for Figure 2D from Zheng S, Li M, Miao K, Xu H. SNHG1 contributes to proliferation and invasion by regulating miR-382 in breast cancer. Cancer Manag Res. 2019;11:5589-5598. https://doi.org/10.2147/CMAR.S198624.
• Images for Figure 2F have been duplicated with images for Figure 2e from Wang X, Su Y, Yin C. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) five prime to Xist (FTX) promotes retinoblastoma progression by regulating the microRNA-320a/with-no-lysine kinases 1 (WNK1) axis. Bioengineered. 2021;12(2):11622–11633. https://doi.org/10.1080/21655979.2021.1994718.
• Images for Figure 4D have been duplicated with images for Figure 3A and7A from Chen X, Wu G, Qing J, Li C, Chen X, Shen J. LINC00240 knockdown inhibits nasopharyngeal carcinoma progress by targeting miR-26a-5p. J Clin Lab Anal. 2022;36:e24424. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcla.24424 and Figure 8A from Zhu Y, Li J, Liu H, et al. Circular RNA, hsa_circRNA_102049, promotes colorectal cancer cell migration and invasion via binding and suppressing miRNA‑455‑3p. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine. 2022;23:244. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2022.11169.

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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.