Znhit1 inhibits breast cancer by up-regulating PTEN to deactivate the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway
Authors: Sijie Li
Chunguo Cui
Di Wu
Journal: Life Sciences (2019)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Breast cancer; PI3K/Akt/mTOR; PTEN; Prognosis; Znhit1.
Affiliations: Department of Breast Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130031, China., Department of Breast Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China., Department of Breast Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Given the comments regarding this article “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”, the journal requested the authors to provide the raw data. However, the authors were not able to fulfil this request and therefore the Editor-in-Chief decided to retract the article. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
  Fig. 4. Znhit1 overexpression up-regulates PTEN and inhibits the PI3K Akt mTOR pathway in breast cancer cells. Protein expression was determined by Western blot analysis. ![file] To plagiarise a comment by Elisabeth Bik: 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 , 
 Retracted [13 July 2022] . ----------------------------- This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Given the comments regarding this article u201cThis 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 panelsu201d, the journal requested the authors to provide the raw data. However, the authors were not able to fulfil this request and therefore the Editor-in-Chief decided to retract the article. ,