This Retraction follows an Expression of Concern relating to this article previously published by Portland Press. This article is being retracted from Bioscience Reports at the request of the first author Zhi Zhao following receipt of a notification from a reader, alerting the Editorial Office to duplications between the BMS-345541 panel of Figure 6D and the miR-26a mimics panel of Figure 3D, with vertical flip and colour transformation. The Editorial Office also have additional concerns surrounding this paper, specifically:

  • Duplications of cells in Figure 4A/7A OA and NC panels, as well as duplications of cells in Figure 4C/7C OA and NC panels, Figure 4C miR-26a mimics panel and Figure 7C BMS-345541 panel with horizontal flip transformation, Figure 4C/7C OA and miR-26a inhibitors+BMS-345541 panels with horizontal flip transformation, and Figure 7C NC and miR-26a inhibitors+BMS-345541 panels with horizontal flip transformation

  • Duplications in the two Western blot bands for Figure 5A OA and NC P-IκBα groups with Figure 5C OA NC P-IκBα groups, which appear to represent two different blots, suggesting digital splicing

  • Similarities between Figure 6A OA and miR26a inhibitors+BMS-34551 panels with rotation, as well as Figure 6B OA and miR26a inhibitors+BMS-34551 panels with rotation, and Figure 6D BMS-345541 and miR-26a inhibitors+BMS-34551 panels

The authors were initially contacted with regards to the reader's concerns and did not respond, but the author Zhi Zhao has since contacted the journal requesting a retraction of this article, stating the authors have been unable to replicate the results. The other authors have not responded. The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board agree with the retraction.

This is an open access article published by Portland Press Limited on behalf of the Biochemical Society and distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).