RETRACTED: MicroRNA-96-5p Facilitates the Viability,Migration,and Invasion and Suppresses the Apoptosis of Cervical Cancer Cells by Negatively Modulating SFRP4

At the request of Sage and the Journal Editor, the following article has been retracted:

Zhang H, Chen R, Shao J. MicroRNA-96-5p Facilitates the Viability, Migration, and Invasion and Suppresses the Apoptosis of Cervical Cancer Cells by Negatively Modulating SFRP4. Technol Cancer Res Treat. 2020; 19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1533033820934132

Sage was made aware of concerns raised on PubPeer regarding the following figures in the article:

The panels NC-mimic and miR-96 mimic in Figure 2C appear to contain significant similarities

Figure 3B (NC mimic) appears highly similar to Figure 4D (Ishikawa; miR-NC) in a publication by the same authors¹

Figure 3B (Hela, miR-96 inhibitor) appears highly similar to Figure 6C (pcDNA-SNHG14) in a publication by the same authors¹

Figure 5C (PI, si-SFRP4+NC-inhibitor) appears highly similar to Figure 3C (CaSki, inhibitor NC) in a publication by the same authors²

The authors did not respond to requests for comments on these similarities.

Due to unresolved concerns about image integrity that call into question the validity of the findings, this article has been retracted.

The authors did not respond to the decision to retract.

References

1. Zhang, K., Cai, Y., Zhou, Q., Sun, H., & Wei, J. Long Non-Coding RNA SNHG14 Impedes Viability, Migration and Invasion of Endometrial Carcinoma Cells Through Modulating miR-93-5p/ZBTB7A Axis. Cancer Manag Res. 2020; 12. https://doi.org/10.2147/CMAR.S257419

2. Cai, Y., Zhang, K., Cao, L., Sun, H., & Wang, H. Inhibition of Mircorna-766-5p Attenuates the Development of Cervical Cancer Through Regulating SCAI. Technol Cancer Res Treat. 2020; 19. https://doi.org/10.1177/1533033820980081