Ullah A, Chen G, Hussain A, et al. Int J Nanomedicine. 2021;16:4451–4470. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S314367
We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal International Journal of Nanomedicine, have retracted the published article.
After publication, concerns have been raised by a third party in 2023 about the integrity of the data in Figure 8 of the article.
Further investigation conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed unexpected overlaps between the Masson Trichrome staining images in Figure 8 that representative of different samples and treatment conditions. Additional integrity concerns were identified in the Western blot data shown in Figure 11.
Additional integrity concerns were identified in the Supplementary data, including unexpected similarities between Figure S12 of the article and Figure 8 of the authors’ previous publication that are representative of different samples and treatment conditions:
Ullah A, Wang K, Wu P, Oupicky D, Sun M. CXCR4-targeted liposomal mediated co-delivery of pirfenidone and AMD3100 for the treatment of TGFβ-induced HSC-T6 cells activation. Int J Nanomedicine. 2019;14:2927–2944. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S171280
When approached for an explanation, the authors have responded and have provided their original data to address the concerns in Figure 8. However, the authors were unable to address the integrity concerns flagged in Figure 11 or S12 of the article.
As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed.
We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines.
The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.