Long non-coding RNA TTN-AS1 promotes the metastasis in breast cancer by epigenetically activating DGCR8
Authors: L-Z Ma
J-W Chen
X-L Liu
Y Dou
P Qiu
X-X Tang
Journal: European review for medical and pharmacological sciences (2019)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Breast cancer; long non-coding RNAs; lncRNA TTN-AS1; metastasis; RT-qPCR
Affiliations: Department of Medical Oncology, Xingtai People's Hospital, Xingtai, China. .

Abstract:  Objective: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common fatal cancers. Recent studies have identified the vital roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the development and progression of BC. This research aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of lncRNA TTN-AS1 in the metastasis of BC. Patients and methods: TTN-AS1 expression of tissues was detected by Real Time-quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) in 50 BC patients. Wound healing assay and transwell assay were used to observe the phenotypic alteration of BC cells after knockdown or overexpression of TTN-AS1. Moreover, RT-qPCR and Western blot assay were performed to discover the potential targets of TTN-AS1 in BC. Results: TTN-AS1 expression in BC samples was significantly higher than that of the adjacent tissues. Besides, the migration and invasion of BC cells were markedly inhibited after TTN-AS1 was silenced, while promoted after TTN-AS1 overexpression. In addition, a remarkable decrease of DGCR8 was observed after TTN-AS1 was inhibited in BC cells, while DGCR8 was upregulated after overexpression of TTN-AS1. Furthermore, DGCR8 expression showed significant enhancement in BC tissues and was positively associated with TTN-AS1 level. Conclusions: Our study uncovered a new oncogene in BC and suggested that TTN-AS1 could enhance BC cell migration and invasion via sponging DGCR8, which provided a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 This paper is one of a set of 121 papers that all contain images from the same library of about 100 photos and plots. This is unexpected, because each paper has different authors and different affiliations, with little to no overlap, and describes different cancer types and molecules. It would be very hard to explain how authors from different labs would all obtain the same photo. Therefore, the papers might have all be derived from the same source, such as a paper mill that sells ready-to-be-published papers. This  Stock Photo paper set has been described in more detail on my blog post, https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 07 05 the-stock-photo-paper-mill and in a Wall Street Journal article by Eva Xiao (currently behind a paywall): https: www.wsj.com articles chinese-research-papers-raise-doubts-fueling-global-questions-about-scientific-integrity-11593939600 The vast majority (113 121) of the papers were published in the same journal, European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences (ERMPS). A link to the full set of papers can be found here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 172RWS18w1lTNJ9Nnj80fuXXTqTm4fGkoK0sdYyvKE3g edit?usp=sharing All papers have been reported to the journal editors on July 2, 2020. , 
 https: www.europeanreview.org article 22212 Since this article has been suspected of research misconduct and the corresponding authors did not respond to our request to prove originality of data and figures, u201cLong non-coding RNA TTN-AS1 promotes the metastasis in breast cancer by epigenetically activating DGCR8, by P. Qiu, Y. Dou, L.-Z. Ma, X.-X. Tang, X.-L. Liu, J.-W. Chen, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2019; 23 (24): 10835-10841u2013DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201912_19787u2013PMID: 31858552u201d has been withdrawn. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. , 
 An editorial has been issued by the Editors in Chief of the journal, Prof. A. Gasbarrini and Prof. A.V. Greco: https: www.europeanreview.org wp wp-content uploads 7908-7908.pdf  [...] *we retracted 65 papers, due to ambiguous replies and missing data from corresponding authors. But our job continues; other papers are under investigation.* ,