Heestermans M, Salloum-Asfar S, Salvatori D, Laghmani EH, Luken BM, Zeerleder SS, Spronk HMH, Korporaal SJ, Wagenaar GTM, Reitsma PH, van Vlijmen BJM. Role of platelets, neutrophils, and factor XII in spontaneous venous thrombosis in mice. Blood. 2016;127(21):2630-2637.

The Editors of Blood retract the 26 May 2016 paper cited above. In this paper, the authors reported on the role of platelets, neutrophils, and coagulation factor XII (FXII) in spontaneous venous thrombosis in mice. After performing additional studies using F12-deficient mice, a new F12 small interfering RNA (siRNA), and a mismatch control siRNA, the authors found that the aggravating effect of low FXII on spontaneous venous thrombosis reported in the above-cited paper was specific to the F12 siRNA used in the original study. This particular F12 siRNA has an additional prothrombotic off-target effect on coagulation that is unrelated to FXII. Upon discovering this error, the authors contacted the journal to correct the scientific record.

The authors sincerely apologize to the readers of Blood for this error in the original publication.

All authors approved the retraction.