LINC00346 accelerates the malignant progression of colorectal cancer via competitively binding to miRNA-101-5p/MMP9
Authors: J-F Mu
W-H Tong
S-P Zhang
Journal: European review for medical and pharmacological sciences (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: LINC00346; colorectal cancer; miRNA-101-5p; MMP9; metastasis
Affiliations: Department of Gastrointestinal and Colorectal Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China. .

Abstract:  Objective: To clarify the promotive effect of LINC00346 on the malignant progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) by mediating miRNA-101-5p/MMP9 axis. Patients and methods: Expression pattern of LINC00346 in 46 paired CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues was determined by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Correlation between LINC00346 level and prognosis of CRC patients was analyzed, and the LINC00346 level in CRC cell lines was examined as well. Subsequently, potential influences of LINC00346 on cellular behaviors of CRC cells were evaluated through cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation, transwell, and wound healing assays. Finally, Dual-Luciferase reporter gene assay was conducted to verify the binding relationship between LINC00346 and miRNA-101-5p/MMP9. Results: LINC00346 was upregulated in CRC tissues and cell lines. Compared with CRC patients with low level of LINC00346, those with high level suffered a poorer prognosis, and higher metastatic rates (lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis). Transfection of sh-LINC00346 attenuated proliferative, migratory, and invasive abilities of CRC cells. In addition, LINC00346 was confirmed to bind to miRNA-101-5p, and the latter was binding to MMP9. Moreover, the overexpression of miRNA-101-5p decreased colony number, viability, and numbers of migratory and invasive cells. Conclusions: LINC00346 is upregulated in CRC and correlated with metastasis and poor prognosis of CRC. LINC00346 accelerates the malignant progression of CRC via targeting miRNA-101-5p/MMP9. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 This paper appears to be part of a set of papers (n=170 as of today and growing) that share a very similar layout. Subsets of these papers appear to share similar Kaplan-Meier survival plots, correlation plots, and overlapping photos of wound-healing, transwell assays, etc. Yet, there is little to no overlap between the authors of these papers or their departments and affiliated institutions. The very similar layout and overlapping photos suggests these papers might have all been created by the same entity, perhaps a paper mill. I have been calling this set the  Comb papers, because the Kaplan-Meier plots have a comb-like appearance. For PubPeer user Hoya Camphorifolia, the survival plots look like Lego blocks. This particular paper is part of a subset of at least three papers within the Comb papers that share very similar correlation plots: * L Yang et al., ERMPS (2020), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202002_20156 - https: pubpeer.com publications B324F0C5CC90125D4A9AA9F883A5DC * WH Tong et al., ERMPS (2020), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202006_21650 - https: pubpeer.com publications B9D1695D3FF5C8CBF592ABF89FFA07 * YY Zhang et al., ERMPS (2019), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201904_17685 - https: pubpeer.com publications 89034A18A6D0A2ACB2FBCE505D6EED Here is a compilation of the correlation plots from these three different papers. Colored boxes and lines point out some characteristic groups of data points.  , 
 Retracted [May 2021] . -------------------------------------------- The article u201cLINC00346 accelerates the malignant progression of colorectal cancer via competitively binding to miRNA-101-5p MMP9, by W.-H. Tong, J.-F. Mu, S.-P. Zhang, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2020; 24 (12): 6639-6646u2013DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202006_21650u2013PMID: 32633353u201d has been withdrawn from the authors since they decided to perform further experiments. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. ,