Xue Wang, Yong Wang, Jinglan Zhang, Hong Pyo Kim, Stefan W. Ryter, and Augustine M. K. Choi. Molecular and Cellular Biology. 2005;25:4742-4751.
We, the Editor and Publisher of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology have retracted the following article. Following publication of the article, concerns were raised regarding the reliability of data presented in Figures 1 and 2.
An institutional investigation by Cornell University found the following issues in the below figures of the published article:
Images for Figure 1 have been duplicated with images for Figure 1C from Xue Wang, Yong Wang, Hong Pyo Kim, Kiichi Nakahira, Stefan W. Ryter, and Augustine M. K. Choi. Carbon Monoxide Protects against Hyperoxia-induced Endothelial Cell Apoptosis by Inhibiting Reactive Oxygen Species Formation. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 2007;282:1718:1726. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M607610200; Figure 1D from Dirk-Jan Slebos, Stefan W. Ryter, Marco van der Toorn, Fang Liu, Fengli Guo, Catherine J. Baty, Jenny M. Karlsson, Simon C. Watkins, Hong Pyo Kim, Xue Wang, Janet S. Lee, Dirkje S. Postma, Henk F. Kauffman, and Augustine M. K. Choi (2007). Mitochondrial Localization and Function of Heme Oxygenase-1 in Cigarette Smoke–Induced Cell Death. Am. J. of Resp. Cell & Molecular Biol., 36, 409-417. https://doi.org/10.1165/rcmb.2006-0214OC and Figure 2B from Wang, X., Wang, Y., Lee, SJ. et al. Carbon monoxide inhibits Fas activating antibody-induced apoptosis in endothelial cells. Med Gas Res 1, 8 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1186/2045-9912-1-8.
Images for Figure 2 have been duplicated with images for Figure 2A and 3B from Wang, X., et al (2011) and Figure 2D from Kim, H. P., Wang, X., Lee, S. J., Huang, M. H., Wan, Y., Ryter, S. W., & Choi, A. M. K. (2008). Autophagic proteins regulate cigarette smoke induced apoptosis: Protective role of heme oxygenase-1. Autophagy, 4(7), 887–895. https://doi.org/10.4161/auto.6767.
The corresponding author did respond to the journal’s queries but was unable to provide a sufficient explanation for the duplicated images and the original data was no longer available. Verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record and we, the Editor and Publisher, are therefore retracting the article and the corresponding author was notified and does not agree with this decision.
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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.