Retracted : CXCL16 protects against oxygen and glucose deprivation‚Äêinduced injury in human microvascular endothelial cells‚Ä?: Potential role in ischemic stroke
Authors: Min Wang
Ruiting Liu
Journal: Journal of Cellular Physiology (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: CXCL16; PMS2L2; ischemic stroke; miR-424.
Affiliations: Department of Neurology, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng, China.

Abstract:  Aim: To explore the protective effect of chemokine ligand 16 (CXCL16) against cell damage induced by oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) in human microvascular endothelial cells-1 (HMEC-1) and its possible mechanism. Methods: Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and flow cytometry were performed to determine cell viability and apoptosis of HMEC-1, respectively. qRT-PCR analysis was applied to display the expression of CXCL16 and miR-424. Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, CXCL16, cAMP/PKA/CREB, and PI3K-AKT-GSK3Œ≤ pathway-related proteins. Results: OGD significantly inhibited cell viability and promoted apoptosis. CXCL16 overexpression decreased the proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of HMEC-1 induced by OGD. Furthermore, we found that CXCL16 was a target of miR-424 and was downregulated by miR-424. The further study showed that overexpression of miR-424 significantly increased proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of HMEC-1 induced by OGD. In addition, we also found that miR-424 was downregulated by PMS2L2. In the subsequence experiment, overexpression of PMS2L2 significantly decreased the proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of HMEC-1 induced by OGD, which suggested that PMS2L2 decreased cell damage of HMEC-1 induced by OGD. Simultaneously, CXCL16 treatment markedly increased the phosphorylation of PKA/CREB and PI3K-AKT-GSK3Œ≤ and these signal pathways were blocked by signal inhibitors. Conclusion: Our study first demonstrates that oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD)-induced human microvascular endothelial cells-1 (HMEC-1) cell injury was alleviated by CXCL16 targeted by miR-424 which further targeted by PMS2L2. This process might also be regulated by activating PKA/CREB and PI3K-AKT-GSK3Œ≤ pathways. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 The Western blots and other figures in this paper have an interesting layout that appears to be shared with many other papers, as discussed in a January 2020 post on Leonid Schneider s blog: https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers The list of these papers is available here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1KXqTAyl4j-jVorFPMD2XRpr76LcIKJ0CVyIvRj0exYQ edit?usp=sharing In almost all papers, Western blot panels within the same figure, and across figures and papers, appear to share the same background, while the bands are regularly spaced, all have similar rounded edges without the usual smudges and specks, and with some bands showing a recognizable  jumping sardine shape. Also in almost all papers, bar graphs show a characteristic layout with bars in solid shades of grey, and the left-most bar in black, as well as double-edged error bars. Many papers have  cell viability and  apoptotic cells graphs. In some of these papers, including this one, flow cytometry plot show a unnaturally dense and well defined  hairball of events in Q3 with a few regularly spaced events in Q1 and Q2, and a rectangular or crab-shaped block of events in Q4. To illustrate the recognizable layout of the graphs in this paper, here is Figure 1.  , 
 Retraction: [10 February 2021] . -------------------------------- The above article, published online on April 3, 2019 in Wiley Online Library , has been retracted by agreement between the journal s Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Gregg Fields, and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The retraction has been agreed following an investigation based on allegations raised by a third party. Several flaws and inconsistencies between results presented and experimental methods described were found, the editors consider the conclusions of this article to be invalid. The authors collaborated in the investigation initially, but were not available for a final confirmation of the retraction. ,