Li Y, Liu H, Cui Y, et al. Onco Targets Ther. 2020;13:12201—12211.

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

Since publication, concerns were raised by a third party, regarding the integrity of Figure 3B. Upon investigation by the publisher, additional concerns were identified regarding image integrity issues detected in Western blots in Figures 2E and 2F, wound healing assays in Figure 4D, and methodological issues regarding the RT-PCR and the SGC-7901 cell line used.

At a later date, the authors contacted the journal requesting the correction of Figures 3B and 4D. When approached for an explanation, the authors provided an initial response stating intent to answer our questions, however, they subsequently did not respond to our concerns despite multiple requests.

Following review by the publisher and the journal Editor of the issues identified, it was decided that the results of the study cannot be relied upon. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article, and the authors were notified of this.

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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.