MiR-502-3P Suppresses Cell Proliferation, Migration, and Invasion in Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Targeting SET [Retraction]

Jin H, Yu M, Lin Y, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2016;9:3281—3289.

At the request of the authors, the Editor and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. The journal was notified by the authors of potential issues relating to the reliability of the data in the published article. Specifically:

• Figure 2F panel 0 h Untreated shares overlap with a section of Figure 2F panel 0 h NC and panel 0 h Mimics.
• Figure 2F panel 24 h Untreated shares overlap with a section of Figure 2F panel 24 h NC.
• Table 1 describes the forward and reverse primers used for the miRNA has-MiR-502-3p. The forward and reverse primers are 50% identical and completely identical to the forward and reverse primers of the miRNA has-miR-144, respectively, described in Table 1 of Yu et al ‘MiR-144 suppresses cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma by targeting SMAD4’ (https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S88233).

The authors explained that some of the images had been mislabelled which led to the duplication of images in Figure 2F. The authors explained the primers were designed using the poly A tail-length method and included universal sequences requiring specific changes according to the miRNA. This led to the similarities of the primers described in Table 1 to those described in Yu et al. In addition, the authors could not provide any raw data for the western blots shown in the article.

Given the errors and lack of available raw data the authors requested for the article to be retracted and the editor has agreed with this decision. The authors wish to apologise for this error.

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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

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