Zhang S, Lu Y, Shi W, et al. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2022;16:2783—2801. https://doi.org/10.2147/DDDT.S370825

We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Drug Design, Development and Therapy have retracted the published article.

Following publication, concerns have been raised by a third party about the integrity of the data in Figures 5 and 6 of the article. Further investigations conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed unexpected similarities between the Western blot data representative of different samples and different proteins in Figures 5 and 6. Additional integrity concerns were identified regarding apparent inconsistencies in the reported animal experiments.

When approached for an explanation, the authors provided their raw data for Figures 5 and 6. Further checks identified additional concerns in the raw data sent, and the authors have not been able to address the ethical concerns regarding the animal studies conducted.

As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article.

We have been informed in our decision-making by 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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.