RETRACTED: Endoplasmic reticulum stress triggered by Soyasapogenol B promotes apoptosis and autophagy in colorectal cancer
Authors: Yingying Sui
Hui Zhang
Luping Wang
Xiaojun Wang
Lu Yun
Liying Sha
Luning Wang
Journal: Life Sciences (2019)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Apoptosis; Autophagy; Colorectal cancer; Endoplasmic reticulum stress; Soy B.
Affiliations: The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China., Qingdao Central Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong, China., The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Aim: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common human malignancy which accounts for 600,000 deaths annually at the global level. Soyasapogenol B (Soy B), an ingredient of soybean, has been found to exert anti-proliferative activities in vitro in human breast cancer cells. The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Soy B in suppressing CRC. Methods and materials: The effect of Soy B on cell viability was assessed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The effect of Soy B on cell proliferation was determined using colony formation assay. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined by the TUNEL assay and flow cytometry following Annexin V-FITC/Propidium Iodide (PI) double staining. JC-1 staining was performed to examine the change in mitochondrial membrane potential. Autophagy was examined by acridine orange staining and mRFP-GFP-LC3 adenovirus transfection. Caspase-12 activities were determined by ELISA kit. Western blotting was used to determine the expression of relevant proteins. To investigate the role of autophagy in the pro-death and pro-apoptotic activities of Soy B, autophagy inhibitors Bafilomycin A1 (Baf-A1) and Atg5 siRNA were utilized. TUDCA and CHOP shRNA were utilized to block ER stress. Moreover, a CRC xenograft murine model was used to analyze the therapeutic efficacy of Soy B in vivo. Key findings: Soy B treatment decreased the number of viable cells and colonies formed in CRC cell lines. Moreover, Soy B treatment promoted the apoptotic cell death via the intrinsic pathway and autophagy which positively contributed to cell death and apoptosis. In addition, our results showed that ER stress, triggered by Soy B, mediated apoptosis and autophagy. In vivo results revealed that Soy B could suppress tumor growth, which was associated with increased ER stress, accompanied with apoptosis and autophagy induction. Significance: Soy B was able to promote cell death in vitro and in vivo. Our findings highlight the possibility of utilizing Soy B as a chemotherapeutic agent to prevent and treat CRC. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 Fig 6B.  Soy B suppresses tumor growth in xenograft model (n=6)..... B. Soy B treatment enhanced cell apoptosis in tumor tissue . Could the authors comment on the similarity between the results for 50 mg kg day of Soy B, and for 25 mg kg day of PG, with gastric cancer, as in 7D of [Niu et al (2019)] ? ![file] , 
 Fig 6F,  Soy B did not cause marked histological damage in spleen, liver, heart, kidney and lung tissue. Below: 7H from Niu et al (2019),  HE staining was applied to evaluate the changes in the lung, heart, kidney and liver tissues ![file] , 
 Fig 4B, E. ![file] Two pairs of panels differ only by the addition of points in the upper right quadrants. The HTC116 Control panel has appeared frequently elsewhere in this oeuvre of papers, identified as coming from a variety of cell-lines and treatments. For comparison: ![] , 
 I hope people appreciate the effort put into creating this montage. From top left, clockwise: 6F from [Lin et al (2019)] :  The toxicity of FL118 on the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidneys were examined using H E staining . 6F [Wang et al (2019)] :  Soy B did not cause marked histological damage in spleen, liver, heart, kidney and lung tissue . 7H [Niu et al (2019)] :  HE staining was applied to evaluate the changes in the lung, heart, kidney and liver tissues . 7F [Li et al (2019)] :  Representative pictures of H E stained tissues of the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney of the AIF-treated mice . ![] In the  kidney column for Lin et al, the three panels are in the opposite sequence from the Wang et al and Niu et al kidney columns. To show that would require more colors. , 
 #1 Another appearance of these images in [Pan et al (2019)] . ![] , 
 Retraction [note dated 1 August 2020] .  This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief and the authors, as panels from Fig. 4B appear similar to panels from Fig. 4E. Also, the TC116 Control panel from Fig. 4B appears similar to panels from Fig. 4B of the article published by Xiuli Yang, Guotian Yin, Haiyan Sun and Guoan Zhao in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology 74 (2019) 53u201361 https: doi.org 10.1097 FJC.0000000000000680 and figure 7B of the article published by Kaili Liu, Hui Gao, Qiaoyun Wang, Longyuan Wang, Bin Zhang, Zhiwu Han, Xuehong Chen, Mei Han and Mingquan Gao in Cancer Science 109 (2018) 1369u20131381 https: doi.org 10.1111 cas.13575.  Moreover, panels from Fig. 6B appear similar to panels from figure 7D of the article published by Ying Niu, Jinping Zhang, Yalin Tong, Jiansheng Li and Bingrong Liu in Life Sciences 237 (2019) 116893 https: doi.org 10.1016 j.lfs.2019.116893 and Fig. 4B of the article published by Xiaoping Pan, Chen Wang and Ti Zhang in Cancer Biology 302 (2019) 2171u20132177 https: doi.org 10.1002 ar.24179.  Panels from Fig. 6F also appear similar to panels from Fig. 6F of the article published by Xuezhu Lin, Mingquan Gao, Ailing Zhang, Jingjie Tong, Xiaoyi Zhang, Quanzhong Su, Zhihong Yang, Hui Gao and Guohui Jiang in Life Sciences 239 (2019) 117074 https: doi.org 10.1016 j.lfs.2019.117074, figure 7H of the article published by Ying Niu, Jinping Zhang, Yalin Tong, Jiansheng Li and Bingrong Liu in Life Sciences 237 (2019) 116893 https: doi.org 10.1016 j.lfs.2019.116893 and Fig. 7F of the article published by Dong Li, Xiaoyan Li, Genqu Li, Yan Meng, Yanghong Jin, Shuang Shang and Yanjie Li in Life Sciences 216 (2019) 259u2013270 https: doi.org 10.1016 j.lfs.2018.11.032.  Although this article was published earlier than most of the other articles, the Editor decided to retract this article given the concerns on the reliability of the data.  One of the conditions of submission of a paper for publication is that authors declare explicitly that their work is original. As such this article represents a severe abuse of the scientific publishing system. The scientific community takes a very strong view on this matter and apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process. , 
 http: www.most.gov.cn zxgz kycxjs kycxgzdt 202201 t20220127_179206.html Google Translated Date: January 27, 2022 14:44 Source: Ministry of Science and Technology u3000u300011. The paper  Endoplasmic reticulum stress triggered by Soyasapogenol B promotes apoptosis and autophagy in colorectal cancer in which Zhang Hui is the corresponding author and Wang Luping is the first author. After investigation, the paper was found to be fraudulent. Zhang Hui will be dealt with as follows: 1-year demerit punishment, 5-year cancellation of application or application for science and technology projects (special projects, funds, etc.), science and technology awards, and qualifications for science and technology talent titles, cancellation as a nominee or recommender, nominated or recommender, reviewer Experts and other qualifications for 5 years, recorded in the file of scientific research integrity and dishonesty, given a lecture on scientific research integrity, cancel the annual evaluation first, and the annual evaluation shall not be determined to be qualified or above; the following is made to Wang Luping (merged with another paper) Processing: Demerit punishment for 1 year, cancellation of application or application for scientific and technological plan projects (special projects, funds, etc.), scientific and technological awards, and qualifications for scientific and technological talents for 6 years, cancellation of qualifications as nominees or recommenders, nominees or recommenders, evaluation experts, etc. for 6 years , recorded in the archives of scientific research integrity and dishonesty, given scientific research integrity admonitions and talks, canceled the participation in this year s evaluation, and the annual evaluation shall not be determined to be qualified or above. u3000u3000(Notification link: https: kjc.qdu.edu.cn info 1023 3178.htm) ,