Long noncoding RNA PCAT-1 knockdown prevents the development of ovarian cancer cells via microRNA-124-3p
Authors: Fengying Min
Guoyan Chu
Journal: Journal of cellular biochemistry (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: PCAT-1; apoptosis; miR-124-3p; ovarian cancer.
Affiliations: Department of Gynecology, Jining No. 1 People's Hospital, Jining, Shandong, China., Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Shengli Oilfield Central Hospital, Dongying, Shandong, China.

Abstract:  Long noncoding RNA prostate cancer-associated transcript 1 (PCAT-1) is overexpressed in human malignancies and its silence abates the exaggeration of cancers. Whereas, the activity of PCAT-1 silence in ovarian cancer (OC) remains elusive. Here, our study was designed to corroborate the function of PCAT-1 silence in cellular activities and the molecular mechanisms. PCAT-1 in human ovarian tumor tissue specimens and cell lines (A2780 and SKOV3) were quantified by real-time quantitative reverse polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Reinforced silence of PCAT-1 and microRNA (miR)-124-3p was established by transfection and identified by qRT-PCR. The viability, apoptosis as well as migration and invasion were examined. Western blot was exploited for analysis of proteins involved in proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion, and signaling transduction. OC tissues showed the accumulation of PCAT-1. Silencing PCAT-1 caused the impediment of proliferation, migration, and invasion with the increase in apoptosis. PCAT-1 knockdown repressed the expression of cyclin D1, CDK6, p53, Bax, cleaved caspase-3, metallopeptidases, and vimentin with the restoration of miR-124-3p. However, the roles of PCAT-1 silence were weakened in the absence of miR-124-3p. PCAT-1 silence caused decrease in Wnt3a, β-catenin, and phosphorylation of protein kinase B and mechanistic target of rapamycin was abolished by miR-124-3p inhibitor. The tumor-suppressive role of PCAT-1 silence was mediated by miR-124-3p. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 When comparing the Western immunoblots in this article, many patters are similar in the background. You need to increase the contrast to notice it. The backgrounds are not identical, but many patterns are repeated, and therefore reason to be concerned. ![file] ![file] ![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 [4 June 2021] . ------------------------ The above article, published online on 31 October 2019 in Wiley Online Library , has been retracted by agreement between the the journal s Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Christian Behl, 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. ,