RETRACTED : Downregulation of microRNA‐1469 promotes the development of breast cancer via targeting HOXA1 and activating PTEN/PI3K/AKT and Wnt/β‐catenin pathways
Authors: Yonghui Zhang
Yue Yu
Bin Zhang
Xuchen Cao
Jing Fang
Hongmeng Zhao
Journal: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: HOXA1; PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway; Wnt/β-catenin pathway; breast cancer (BC); miR-1469.
Affiliations: Department of Breast Surgery, Peking University International Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, China., Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Anhui Provincial Cancer Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China., The First Department of Breast Cancer, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, National Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Tianjin, China., Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin, China., Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy, Tianjin Medical University, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, China.

Abstract:  Breast cancer (BC) is a common malignancy which is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women all over the worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the roles of miR-1469 in the development of BC, as well as its regulatory mechanism. The expression levels of miR-1469 in BC tissues, serum, and cell lines were determined. Effects of overexpression of miR-1469 on MCF7 cell viability, colony-forming ability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were then investigated. Furthermore, the potential target of miR-1469 in MCF7 cells was explored. Besides, the association between miR-1469, PTEN/PI3K/AKT, and Wnt/β-catenin pathways was elucidated. Notably, confirmatory experiments by downregulation of miR-1469 in SK-BR-3 cells were further performed. The miR-1469 expression was significantly downregulated in BC tissues, serum, and cell lines. The overexpression of miR-1469 significantly inhibited the proliferation, arrested cell-cycle at G2/M phase, increased apoptosis, suppressed migration, and invasion of MCF-7 cells. In addition, HOXA1 was verified as a direct target of miR-1469, and the effects of overexpression of miR-1469 on the malignant behaviors of MCF7 cells were significantly counteracted by overexpression of HOXA1 concurrently. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR-1469 suppressed the activation of PTEN/PI3K/AKT and Wnt/β-catenin pathways, which was reversed overexpression of HOXA1 concurrently. Besides, confirmatory experiments showed that the inhibition of miR-1469 promoted the malignant behaviors of SK-BR-3 cells, which was inversed after miR-1469 inhibition and HOXA1 knockdown at the same time. Our findings reveal that downregulation of miR-1469 may promote the development of BC by targeting HOXA1 and activating PTEN/PI3K/AKT and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. MiR-1469 may serve as a promising target for BC therapy. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 #1 It may also be of interest to compare the figures of this paper *[above]* with those of [Zhuang, Liu and Wu (2019)] *[below]*: ![file] I am not aiming for a comprehensive comparison, using all the relevant figures from both papers, or to duplicate #1 by showing all similarities **within** either paper. Just to show that figures in both papers appear to be collaged from a single set of motifs, which is an odd phenomenon, given the absence of overlap between the author lists. , 
 The same visual motifs also appear in [Kong et al (2019)] , here at upper left. ![] , 
 No words are needed to explain the problems in Figure 3A,B and Figure 5F,G. ![file] , 
 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 May 26 2020] .  The above article, published online on 15 October 2018 in Wiley Online Library , has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal acting Editoru2010inu2010Chief, Dr. Lucie Kalvodova, and the Wiley Periodicals LLC following an investigation based on public allegations. The authors stated that unintentional errors occurred during the research process, and the experimental results cannot be verified. ,