Retraction Notice At the request of the Executive Editor and Sage, the following article has been retracted:
Song X, Ren X, Xu X, Ruan X, Wang Y, Yao T-T. LncRNA RHPN1-AS1 Promotes Cell Proliferation, Migration and Invasion Through Targeting miR-7-5p and Activating PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment. 2020;19. doi:10.1177/1533033820957023
During an internal review of this submission, concerns arose that this article was submitted by an unauthorised third-party.
An internal investigation revealed the following additional concerns:
In Figure 2D, sections of the Mock migration panel and the siNC migration panel appear highly similar.
In Figure 4D, the siNC+inhibitor NC invasion panel appears highly similar to the siRHPN1-AS1+miR-7-5p inhibitor migration panel.
In Figure 4D, sections of the Mock migration panel appear highly similar to sections of the siNC+inhibitor NC migration panel.
The authors were unable to explain how this may have occurred and requested withdrawal of the article.
Due to concerns around the role played by the originally undisclosed third party in the research and publication of this article, and questions around the integrity of the author group, the Executive Editor retracts this article.
The authors did not respond for comment.