Abstract
At the request of Sage and the Journal Editors, the following article has been retracted:
Bian, P., Liu, C., Hu, E., Ding, Y., Qiu, S., & Li, L. Echinacoside Suppresses the Progression of Breast Cancer by Downregulating the Expression of miR-4306 and miR-4508. Integrative Cancer Therapies. 2021; 20. https://doi.org/10.1177/15347354211062639
Sage was made aware of concerns on PubPeer regarding some of the figures in the article:
The Ech 10 µg/ml panel in Figure 4a appears to be highly similar to the Vehicle panel in Figure 7b of an article by different authors1.
The Ech 20 µg/ml panel in Figure 4a appears to be highly similar to the inhibitor NC panel in Figure 7b of an article by different authors2.
The authors explained that the overlap in Figure 4a was due to an error made by a third party. However, the authors did not disclose the use of a third-party service in the original article.
Due to unresolved concerns about image integrity that call into question the validity of the findings, as well as the undisclosed use of a third-party in the research, this article has been retracted.
The authors did not respond to the decision to retract.
1. Tang N., Hu B., Zhang Y., Chen Z., Yu R. Possible involvement of the Hedgehog and PDPK1-Akt pathways in the growth and migration of small-cell lung cancer. Journal of International Medical Research. 2021; 49(5). https://doi.org/10.1177/03000605211016562
2. Lu X., Zhu Q., Du H., Gu M., Li X. PIWIL2 restrains the progression of thyroid cancer via interaction with miR-146a-3p. 2023; 23(184). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12902-023-01416-0