LncRNA ANRIL protects against oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced injury in PC-12 cells: potential role in ischaemic stroke
Authors: Bin Liu
Jian Xue
Wei Cao
Journal: Artificial Cells Nanomedicine and Biotechnology (2019)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: ANRIL; Ischaemic stroke; Mcl-1; PI3K/AKT; miR-127.
Affiliations: a Department of Neurosurgery, Jining No.1 People's Hospital , Jining , China.

Abstract:  lncRNA ANRIL was reported to be closely related to ischaemic stroke (IS). In this study, we used oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) to stimulate rat adrenal medulla-derived pheochromocytoma cell line PC-12 to construct an in vitro IS cell model and investigated the role of ANRIL and the underlying mechanism. PC-12 cells were stimulated by OGD and/or transfected with pc-ANRIL, si-ANRIL, miR-127 mimic, miR-127 inhibitor, pEX-Mcl-1, sh-Mcl-1 and their negative controls. Cell viability, apoptosis, mRNA and protein expression was detected using CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry assay, qRT-PCR and western blot, respectively. Results showed that OGD-induced PC-12 cell injury and decreased ANRIL expression. ANRIL overexpression significantly reduced OGD-induced PC-12 cell injury evidenced by increasing cell viability and decreasing apoptosis, while ANRIL silence led to the opposite results. Meanwhile, dysregulation of ANRIL altered the expression of apoptotic proteins. Furthermore, ANRIL negatively regulated miR-127 expression. miR-127 overexpression significantly enhanced OGD-induced PC-12 cell injury. In addition, Mcl-1 expression was negatively regulated by miR-127, besides ANRIL up-regulated Mcl-1 expression by down-regulation of miR-127. Mcl-1 overexpression alleviated cell injury and miR-127 silence up-regulated Mcl-1 expression. In conclusion, lncRNA ANRIL alleviated OGD-induced PC-12 cell injury as evidenced. PI3K/AKT pathway might be involved in this regulating progression. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 This paper belongs to a set of over 400 papers (as per February 2020) that share very similar Western blots with tadpole-like shaped bands, the same background pattern, and striking similarities in title structures, paper layout, bar graph design, and - in a subset - flow cytometry panels. Despite these similarities, these papers are authored by researchers from different departments and institutes, with almost no overlap in authors. The list of these papers is available here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1KXqTAyl4j-jVorFPMD2XRpr76LcIKJ0CVyIvRj0exYQ edit?usp=sharing A more detailed description of this set of papers, suspected to all be generated by a common source, a paper mill , can be found here: * https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers (January 2020) * https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 02 21 the-tadpole-paper-mill (February 2020) The same paper mill has been described in these papers: * Jana Christopher - Systematic fabrication of scientific images revealed - FEBS Letters (2018) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13201 * Jennifer A Byrne and Jana Christopher - Digital magic, or the dark arts of the 21st centuryu2014how can journals and peer reviewers detect manuscripts and publications from paper mills? - FEBS Letters (2020) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13747 , 
 Expression of Concern [6 April 2021] . --------------------------------- We, the Publisher and Editor of Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, are issuing an Expression of Concern for the following article: Bin Liu, Wei Cao Jian Xue (2019) LncRNA ANRIL protects against oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced injury in PC-12 cells: potential role in ischaemic stroke. Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 47(1), 1384u20131395, DOI: 10.1080 21691401.2019.1596944 After publication of this article, questions about the scientific integrity of the article content were brought to the Publisher and Editoru2019s attention. We reached out to the authors requesting that they supply information that would confirm the articleu2019s integrity. The authors provided several files in response to our queries, but they were unable to provide the original data in a format which satisfies our requirements to confirm the authenticity of some types of data. In particular, they were unable to provide full western blots, where the molecular weight markers are indicated. In addition, the authors did not have a record of the full blot, before cutting it into strips. Therefore, as we continue to work through the issues raised, we advise readers to interpret the information presented in the article with due caution. The authors have been notified about this Expression of Concern. ,