Li X, Chen B, Chi D, Zhang Y, Jiang W. Onco Targets Ther.2019;12:423432. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S181914 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 2024 about the integrity of the data in Figures 2, 4 and 5 of the article. Further investigation conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed the following: Unusual similarities present in the image panels representative of different treatment conditions in Figure 2E siCA SC9, and Figure 4D NC Unexpected overlaps between the Western blots in Figure 4E and Figure 5C, with the following previously published article from an unrelated author group:Li Y, Zhong W, Zhu M, Hu S, Su X. Nodal regulates bladder cancer cell migration and invasion via the ALK/Smad signaling pathway. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:65896597. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S177514 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 The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as Retracted.
Li et al. (Mon,) studied this question.