miR-214-3p Inhibits Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition and Metastasis of Endometrial Cancer Cells by Targeting TWIST1 [Retraction]

Fang YY, Tan MR, Zhou J, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:9449–9458. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S181037

We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal OncoTargets and Therapy, have retracted the published article.

After publication, concerns have been raised by a third party in 2023 about the integrity of the data in Figure 2 of the article.

Further investigation conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed the following:

• Unexpected similarities present in the image panels representative of different treatment conditions in Figure 2B of the article.
• Unexpected similarities between Figures 2B and 2C of the article. These images are stated to be representative of different samples and conditions.
• Unusual similarities within the image for HEC-1-A, miR-NC in Figure 2C of the article.
• Unexpected similarities between Figure 2C of the article and Figures 1f and 3f of a previously published article from an unrelated author group that are representative of different samples and conditions:Sugang Ma, Wei Jia, Shiyu Ni. miR-199a-5p inhibits the progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma by targeting SNAI1. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 2018;497(1):181-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2018.02.051

Upon further review, the Journal and Publisher identified additional data integrity concerns in the Western blots shown in Figures 2D and 4D. When approached for an explanation, the authors did not respond to the queries raised by the Journal and Publisher.

As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed.

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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.