Abstract
At the request of the authors, the following article has been retracted.
Jing X, Min C, Qi Yun L, et al. Toll-like receptor 2/4 inhibitors can reduce preterm birth in mice. Journal of International Medical Research 2020; doi:10.1177/0300060520933795
The authors notified the Editor of serious errors in their data, statistical analysis and ethical approval following publication.
The authors have carefully reviewed the original data provided in their figures and have noticed significant errors in the data and statistical significances which are detailed below.
Figure 1: Figure 1B and Figure 1C showed the ratio of CD11b, TLR2, and TLR4 positive cell after LPS-treatment with different time points. The authors have carefully reviewed the original data and could not repeat the results (LPS 12h, LPS 16h, and LPS 20h) given in Figure 1B and 1C.
Figure 2: Figure 2A, 2B, and 2C showed the ratio of CD11b, TLR2, and TLR4 positive cell after LPS-treatment with different time points. The authors have carefully reviewed the original data and could not repeat the results given in Figure 2A, 2B and 2C, and the statistical significance was not observed correctly.
Figure 3: The incorrect image was provided for Figure 3A and does not depict the description provided in the article. In Figure 3B the statistical significance was not observed correctly.
Figure 4: The incorrect image was provided for the placebo in Figure 4E and does not depict the description provided in the article. Also, the T-test method mentioned in the article has not been applied correctly.
The authors regret that they have not obtained correct ethical approval for this study. In the published article, the author states that this study was approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University (Permit Number: KMAE-081920), however this study is still pending approval from the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University.
The authors did not have permission to use the LPS-induced mouse PTB model described in the article, and this method has been used in error.
As such, the above errors invalidate the credibility of the data.