Retraction of: microRNA-7 upregulates death receptor 5 and primes resistant brain tumors to caspase-mediated apoptosis

This is a retraction of: Deepak Bhere, Kaoru Tamura, Hiroaki Wakimoto, Sung Hugh Choi, Benjamin Purow, Jeremy Debatisse, Khalid Shah, microRNA-7 upregulates death receptor 5 and primes resistant brain tumors to caspase-mediated apoptosis, Neuro-Oncology, Volume 20, Issue 2, February 2018, Pages 215-224, https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/nox138.

In February 2024, the Journal published an Expression of Concern¹ after concerns were raised to the Editors regarding images in Figures 2C, 4E and 5F. These concerns were also raised via PubPeer (https://pubpeer.com/publications/6BBCFAD25CC72C576803DF69522DB1).

An investigation by the journal, conducted in accordance with guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics, found irregularities in Figures 2C, 4E and 5F. The Editor-in-Chief contacted the corresponding author, who explained that duplication was due to errors in selecting images for western blots in Figure 2 and immunohistochemistry images in Figures 4 and 5. The authors supplied updated data and figure panels which were reviewed by the editorial team. The Editor-in-Chief is ultimately retracting this article because the irregularities in these figures raise sufficient concerns regarding the reliability of the results and conclusions presented.