Retraction: Methylation Mediated Silencing of MicroRNA-1 Gene and Its Role in Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis

This article (1) has been retracted at the request of the editors. Following an institutional review by The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), the primary affiliation of several of the authors, it was determined that:

• In Fig. 5A, the Western blot bands showing FOXP1 and GAPDH expression in SK-Hep1 cells were also used to show FOXP1 and GAPDH expression in SNU-449 cells.

• In Fig. 6A, the Western blot bands showing FOXP1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Sample 1 were also used to show FOXP1 expression in HCC Sample 8.

• In Supplementary Fig. S1, multiple DNA bands and background images were reused. Specifically:

  • Bands from the 100 bp ladder lane were reused in the TaqI Control and Acil Control lanes.
  • The top band in the AciI Control lane was reused as the top band in the TaqI Control lane.
  • The band in the Uncut Control lane was reused in the Uncut 5-Azac lane and the Tsp509 I 5-Azac lane.
  • The same blank background image appears in middle sections of the TaqI Control lane, the Tsp509I Control lane, and the Tsp509I 5-Azac lane.
  • The same blank background image appears in middle sections of the AciI 5-Azac lane and the TaqI 5-Azac lane.

As a result of these findings, the institution recommended retraction and, upon internal review, the editors agreed with this recommendation.

A copy of this Retraction Notice was sent to the last known email addresses for 12 of the 12 authors. One author (Thomas D. Schmittgen) agreed to the retraction; 3 authors (Gerard J. Nuovo, Sarmila Majumder, Samson T. Jacob) did not agree to the retraction; 8 authors (Jharna Datta, Huban Kutay, Mohd W. Nasser, Bo Wang, Chang-Gong Liu, Stefano Volinia, Carlo M. Croce, Kalpana Ghoshal) did not respond. Samson T. Jacob did not agree to the retraction and stands by the reproducibility of the experimental data and the conclusions of the article.