Liu R, Chen Y, Shou T, Hu J, Qing C. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:2615–2621.

We, the Editor and Publisher of the journal OncoTargets and Therapy, have retracted the following article.

Following publication of the article, concerns were raised about the duplication of images from Figures 2 and 4 with images from unrelated articles. Specifically,

Images for Figure 2C and 2D have been duplicated with images for Figure 2d and 2e from Jiang N, Jiang X, Chen Z, et al. MiR-203a-3p suppresses cell proliferation and metastasis through inhibiting LASP1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2017;36:138. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13046-017-0604-3 and Figure 3C from Liu B, Li G, Zhang Z, Wu H. RETRACTED: Influence of miR-376c-3p/SYF2 Axis on the Progression of Gastric Cancer. Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment. 2019;18. doi:10.1177/1533033819874808. Images from Figure 4D have been duplicated with images for Figures 2e and 3e from Jiang N, et al (2017).

The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the duplicated images or provide satisfactory data for the study. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, the Publisher and Editor requested to retract the article and the authors agree with this.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and COPE guidelines.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.