Expression of concern: Characterization of a novel epigenetically-silenced, growth-suppressive gene,ADAMTS9, and its association with lymph node metastases in nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Authors: Paulisally Hau Yi Lo
Hong Lok Lung
Evan Wai Lok Law
Yue Cheng
Maria Li Lung
Eric J Stanbridge
Suneel S Apte
Daniel Chua
Arthur Kwok Leung Cheung
Yi-Xin Zeng
Sai Wah Tsao
Dan Xie
Journal: International Journal of Cancer (2008)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: functional complementation; tumorigenicity suppression; chromosome 3; nasopharyngeal carcinoma; microcell hybrids
Affiliations: Department of Biology and Center for Cancer Research, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong (SAR), People's Republic of China., State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Cancer Center, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China., Department of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedic Research Center, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH., City of Hope, Beckman Research Institute, Department of Biology, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, CA., Department of Clinical Oncology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong (SAR), People's Republic of China., Department of Anatomy, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong (SAR), People's Republic of China., Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Irvine, CA.

Abstract:  By using a functional complementation approach, suppression of tumorigenicity was observed after transfer of intact or truncated copies of chromosome 3 into a nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) HONE1 cell line. The extra exogenous chromosome 3 in the microcell hybrids (MCHs) significantly extended the lag period of tumor formation, which may be associated with loss or inactivation of wild type alleles from the normal donor chromosome 3. Representative tumors, which grew in nude mice were reconstituted into culture and expanded as tumor segregants (TSs). In our study, a disintegrin-like and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type 1 motif 9 (ADAMTS9), a gene mapping to 3p14.2, was identified to be critically associated with tumor suppression in NPC. Gene expression analysis showed that ADAMTS9 was either not expressed or was downregulated in HONE1 cells, TSs and NPC cell lines. The mechanism of ADAMTS9 gene inactivation in the NPC cell lines and tissues was attributed to promoter hypermethylation. Using a tissue microarray and immunohistochemical staining, 31 of 66 (47%) of the NPC cases showed downregulated or absence of ADAMTS9 expression. ADAMTS9 expression was downregulated or lost in 17 of 23 (73.9%) lymph node metastatic NPC specimens, which was significantly higher than in 14 of 43 (32.6%) primary tumors. After transfection of the ADAMTS9 gene into 7 NPC cell lines, a dramatic reduction of colony forming ability was observed. These findings support ADAMTS9 as a putative tumor suppressor gene in vivo in NPC that is significantly associated with lymph node metastases. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Figure 6A and 6B appear to have some repeated internal features, it isnu2019t clear why this would be. ***  ***  , 
 #1 wlsdermyy@163.com was my E-mail ten years ago. I could not enter into the E-mail 10 years before because of the password being stolen. thyroid_molecule @126.com is my new E-mail. I want to know why do you think wlsdermyy@163.com is thyroid_molecule @126.com ?Indeed, I am one of the authors in the article. XX@gmail.com and XX@yahoo.com could not been used in China since 10 years before. So you can not find the first author and the corresponse author by E-mail. I found the information from the E-mail and Found the first author through various contacts and told him the error. It was Tang Peng who uploarded the manuscript. The figs A and B was the picture of cell proliferation, nuclear staining of KI-67. It is not the cytoplasmic staining of SLUG. We uploaded the wrong picture when submitting. The AB in the paper has nothing to do with our article, repeated internal features may be formed in the process of learning Photoshop tutorials. The Fig A and B should be the new submitted Figs suplied by Peng Tang. After published the paper, we found the errors. However, XX@gmail.com and XX@yahoo.com could not been used to tell the Journal to correct it.  , 
 This was the primary Figs 10 years before , 
 #2 I donu2019t really understand your comments about email addresses. I would note that the journal is the one who published the email address, other than that I donu2019t know anything about it. However, while it seems you acknowledge there is a mistake with the images, your comment about Photoshop causing the repeated features is ridiculous. Perhaps the journal will permit you to publish a correction nonetheless. , 
 #2 Dr. Zhang, since you are here, would you please explain what actually went wrong with your another paper which has since been retracted? https: pubpeer.com publications F618F7D30300090421BAF30B8875BE?utm_source=Safari utm_medium=BrowserExtension utm_campaign=Safari# , 
 Retracted [22 October 2021] . ------------------------- The Editor has retracted this article after concerns were raised regarding the figures and the contents of the article, including: - Inaccurate description of results in the main text and figure legends; - Inconsistencies between the descriptions of results and figures; - Overlap between images in Figs. 4a, b (western blot) and 6a, b (cell images); - Issues with western blot images presented in Figs. 3 and 4. The Editor no longer has confidence in the results and conclusions presented. None of the authors have responded to correspondence from the editor or publisher about this retraction. ,