Abstract
The following article has been retracted at the request of the Editor and Publisher:
Li M, Cui Y, Li X, Guo Y, Wang B, Zhang J, Xu J, Han S, Shi X. Functional Changes of Dendritic Cells in C6 Glioma-Bearing Rats That Underwent Combined Argon-Helium Cryotherapy and IL-12 Treatment. Technol Cancer Res Treat. 2016 Aug;15(4):618-24. doi: 10.1177/1533034615606322. Epub 2015 Aug 27. PMID: 26316012.
Sage was made aware of concerns raised on PubPeer regarding the following figures in the article:
Figure 2 Panel C is highly similar to Figure 2 Panel D Figure 3 Panel A is highly similar to Figure 3 Panel B
During the investigation, Sage also became aware that the number of rats used in the experiment was inconsistently reported.
Sage contacted the authors for comment and requested the raw images underlying the figures. The authors responded and confirmed they were unable to provide the raw images but asked to replace the images by repeating the experiments. They also stated that the additional animals were procured to account for expected attrition during model establishment, with 63 rats per group ultimately used for treatment, and acknowledged wording inaccuracy.
Following review by the journal Editor and due to the unresolved concerns that call into question the validity of the findings, the Journal Editor and Sage retract the article.
Ming Li disagrees with the retraction decision. All other authors did not respond when notified of the retraction.