Negative feedback of NF-Œ∫B signaling by long noncoding RNA MALAT1 controls lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation injury in human lung fibroblasts WI-38
Authors: Wei Zhu
Xuelin Men
Journal: Journal of cellular biochemistry (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: NF-Œ∫B signaling; human metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1; inflammation injury; p65.
Affiliations: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Jinan No. 4 People's Hospital, Jinan, Shandong, China.

Abstract:  The study was designed to elucidate the regulatory mechanism of long noncoding RNA human metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-caused inflammation injury in human lung fibroblasts WI-38. WI-38 cells were stimulated with LPS to construct acute pneumonia cell model. MALAT1 in LPS-stimulated WI-38 cells was examined. LPS-induced inflammation injury was estimated using viability, apoptosis, and cytokine secretion including interleukin-1Œ≤ (IL-1Œ≤) and IL-6. Furthermore, the modulatory relations of MALAT1 and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-Œ∫B) signaling were explored. We found that the sensitivity of WI-38 cells to apoptosis was enhanced by LPS-caused inflammation. Moreover, LPS promoted MALAT1 expression which was found to alleviate LPS-caused damages. Besides, NF-Œ∫B p65 overexpression resulted in an increased expression of MALAT1, and MALAT1 was identified as a target gene of p65. Furthermore, overexpression of MALAT1 reduced NF-Œ∫B activation. Pulldown assay showed that MALAT1 could directly interact with p65. Taken together, our findings revealed that MALAT1 was upregulated in LPS-stimulated WI-38 cells. Through directly interacting with p65, MALAT1 blocked LPS-caused activation of NF-Œ∫B and repressed LPS-induced inflammation injury. MALAT1 may serve as a potential diagnostic indicator or therapeutic target for pneumonia. 

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. To illustrate the recognizable layout of the graphs in this paper, here is Figure 1.  , 
 Recently retracted. [10 September 2020] .  Retraction: Negative feedback of NFu2010u03baB signaling by long noncoding RNA MALAT1 controls lipopolysaccharideu2010induced inflammation injury in human lung fibroblasts WIu201038 , by Wei Zhu and Xuelin Men, J Cell Biochem. 2020; 1945u20101952: The above article, published online on 21 October 2019 in Wiley Online Library , has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal s Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Christian Behl, and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The authors asked to retract this manuscript, initially, but were not available for further comments during the investigation.  The retraction has been agreed following an investigation based on allegations raised by a third party. Raw data could not be provided and thus the validity of the overall results could not be confirmed. ,