MicroRNA-381 Enhances Radiosensitivity in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Targeting X-Linked Inhibitor of Apoptosis Protein [Retraction]

Zhou S, Cui Y, Yu D, Liang J, Zhang M, Ye W. Onco Targets Ther. 2017;10:2527–2538.

The Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy are retracting the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the duplication of western blot images and an investigation found duplicated images in Figures 3 and 6. Specifically,

• The image in Figure 3D, TE10, c-caspase-3, has been duplicated with the same image from Figure 6C, TE10, c-PARP.
• The image in Figure 3D, TE10, c-PARP has been duplicated with the same image from Figure 3D, TE11, c-PARP.
• The image in Figure 3D, TE10/miR-381(+), c-caspase-3, has been duplicated with the same image from Figure 3D, TE11/miR-NC(-), Total PARP.
• The image in Figure 3D, TE11, Total PARP, has been duplicated with the same image from Figure 6C, TE11, Total caspase-3.
• The image from Figure 6C, TE10/shXIAP(+), c-PARP has been duplicated with the same image from Figure 6C, TE11/shcontrol(-), Total caspase-3.

The authors cooperated with the investigation but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation regarding the duplicated images and were unable to verify the published work. 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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.