siRNA-Loaded Poly(Histidine-Arginine)6-Modified Chitosan Nanoparticle with Enhanced Cell-Penetrating and Endosomal Escape Capacities for Suppressing Breast Tumor Metastasis [Retraction]

Sun P, Huang W, Kang L, Jin M, Fan B, Jin H, Wang Q, Gao Z. Int J Nanomedicine. 2017;12:3221–3234

At the authors request, the Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. An investigation by the Publisher found overlap in images from Figure 5. Specifically,

• The image from Figure 5, 0 h, Blank, has been duplicated with the same image for Figure 5, 0 h, H6R6-NP.
• The image from Figure 5, 0h, Naked siRNA, has been duplicated with the same image for Figure 5, 0 h, H6R6-NP.
• The image from Figure 5, 24 h, Naked siRNA, has been duplicated with the same image for Figure 5, 24 h, H6R6-NP.
• The image from Figure 5, 48 h, Naked siRNA, has been duplicated with the image for Figure 5, 48 h, CS-NP.

The authors cooperated with the investigation and provided data associated with the study. However, despite the authors’ assistance, they were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for how the images came to be duplicated, and the validity of the published work could not be verified. The decision was made to retract the article and the authors agreed with this.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.