MicroRNA-212 Inhibits Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis by Targeting FOXA1 [Retraction]

Tu H, Wei G, Cai Q, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2015;8:2227–2235.

At the authors request, The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding similarities between the nontumor (NT) plot shown in Figure 1A with that from the nontumor plot of Figure 1A from Sun et al (2015) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fob.2015.11.001). These similarities were not expected to have occurred by chance. In addition, concerns were also raised regarding the alleged duplication of western blot bands in Figure 5 with those in Figure 4 from Kan et al (2015) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2014.11.031). Specifically,

• Figure 5A, GAPDH bands, appear to have been duplicated with similar bands in Figure 4B, GAPDH bands, from Kan et al (2015).

The authors were unable to explain how these similarities occurred and were unable to retrieve the original data from their study. They requested to retract the article and the Editor agreed with this decision.

Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.