Sinomenine exerts antitumour effect in gastric cancer cells via enhancement of miR-204 expression
Authors: Haifeng Yuan
Jinghua Zhang
Haichao Wang
Fuli Li
Wei Li
Journal: Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology (2019)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: AMP-activated protein kinase; Wnt/Œ≤-catenin; gastric cancer; microRNA-204; sinomenine.
Affiliations: Department of Gastroenterology, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, China., Department of Histology and Embryology, Heze Medical College, Heze, China., Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, China., Department of Oncology, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, China.

Abstract:  Gastric carcinoma (GC) is a pernicious neoplasm with high morbidity and mortality. Sinomenine (SIN) has long been exploited to heal rheumatoid arthritis. Recently, SIN has been discovered to exert the antitumour functions in diverse cancers. However, the impacts of SIN on GC remain indistinct. We attempted to expose the antitumour effect of SIN on GC. MKN45 and SGC-7901 cells were administered with SIN for 24 hours, cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and the associated proteins in the above processes were examined via exploiting CCK-8, BrdU, flow cytometry, Transwell and Western blot. MiR-204 expression in GC tumour tissues, different GC cell lines and SIN-stimulated GC cells was investigated by executing RT-qPCR. The above cell biological processes were reassessed after transfection with miR-204 inhibitor. The latent mechanisms were probed by examining AMPK and Wnt/Œ≤-catenin pathways. We found that SIN memorably repressed cell proliferation, evoked apoptosis and affected CyclinD1, Bcl-2, Bax and cleaved-caspase-3 expression in MKN45 and SGC-7901 cells. Cell migration, invasion and expression of MMP-9 and Vimentin were all restrained by SIN stimulation. The increase of miR-204 was discovered in GC tissues and SIN-treated MKN45 and SGC-7901 cells. But suppression of miR-204 was observed in AGS, MKN28, MKN45 and SGC-7901 cells. Suppression of miR-204 overturned the inhibitory functions of SIN in MKN45 and SGC-7901 cells. Besides, SIN prohibited AMPK and Wnt/Œ≤-catenin pathways via enhancement of miR-204. In conclusion, these findings suggested that SIN exerted the antitumour activity in GC cells by hindering AMPK and Wnt/Œ≤-catenin pathways via enhancement of miR-204. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 Fig 3B.  Compare the marked panels with [above] Fig 3A from [Dou et al (2019)] , and [below] 2A from [Wang et al (2018)] .  See also [Xue et al (2019)] :  All these papers are show up in the PubMed  Similar Articles function, indicating that the text-based PubMed similarity algorithm is recognising repeated paragraphs or phrases (despite the replacement of one phytochemical name by another.  , 
 *[Below]* Fig 3D,  the proportion of apoptotic cells as determined by TUNEL . *[Above]* Fig 7E,  TUNEL staining showing the number of apoptotic cells in tumor sections . from [Pan et al (2018)] , a study of Physcion from unrelated authors.  , 
 *[Upper right]* Fig 3 E [Amentoflavone]  . increased levels cleaved caspase-3 and decreased the ratio of Bcl-2 Bax (200u00d7) . *[At upper left]* Fig 8 E:  Soy B treatment elevated the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax while repressed the expression of Bax and SphK1 . From [Wang et al (2019)] . *[Below]* Fig 6C from [Zou et al (2018)] .  Surprisingly many tissue slices in common. Identication of each slice in terms of treatment and immunohistochemistry stain is arbitrary. Other slices are shared with other papers from the same oeuvre. , 
 Below, Figs 2B ( AF decreases the expression of PCNA in tumor tissues ) and 3D ( AF increased the proportion of apoptotic cells as determined by TUNEL ) Above, Fig 8  b Representative IHC images showing Ki-67 expression in the xenograft tumor tissues. c Apoptotic cells in the WT- and XIST-knockdown xenografts from [Wang Li (2020)] .  , 
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 #5 Fig 2(b) from [Li et al (2019)] :  , 
 Fig 6c from [Zhou et al (2019)] :  , 
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 This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief and the authors. Panels from Figures 2B and 3D appear similar to panels from Figure 8b,c of the article published by Shuli Wang and Guanzhen Li in the Naunyn-Schmiedeberg s Archives of Pharmacology (2020) https: doi.org 10.1007 s00210-020-01808-2. Also, panels from Figure 3B appear similar to panels from Figure 3A of the article published by Xiangyang Dou, Meihua Wang, Tao Zhang and Jiapei Yao in the Anatomical Record (2019) https: doi.org 10.1002 ar.24324 and Figure 2A of the article published by Qiang Wang, Yi Yan, Jie Zhang, Peng Guo, Yuqing Xing, Yong Wang, Fawei Qin and Qingyun Zeng in Biomedicine Pharmacotherapy 104 (2018) https: doi.org 10.1016 j.biopha.2018.05.013. In addition, the Vehicle panel from Figure 3D appears similar to the Vehicle panel from Figure 7E of the article published by Xiaoping Pan, Chen Wang, Yan Li, Lida Zhu and Ti Zhang in Life Sciences 214 (2018) https: doi.org 10.1016 j.lfs.2018.10.064. Panels from Figure 3E appear similar to panels from Figure 8E of the article published by Luping Wang, Junyu Wang, Hong Zhao, Guoping Jiang, Xiaojie Feng, Wenxia Sui and Hongling Liu in the Naunyn-Schmiedeberg s Archives of Pharmacology 392 (2019) 551u2013563 https: doi.org 10.1007 s00210-018-01607-w. Although this article was published earlier than most of the other articles, the Editor decided to retract this article given the concerns on the reliability of the data. Also, one of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that their work is original. As such this article represents an abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process. ,