Retracted Article: Knockdown of NEAT1 ameliorated MPP+-induced neuronal damage by sponging miR-221 in SH-SY5Y cells
Authors: Yong Chen
Jun Zhao
Wei Liu
Lijiao Geng
Journal: RSC Advances (2019)
Discipline: CHEMISTRY
Keywords: lncRNAs; NEAT1; Parkinson's disease; miR-221; Bcl-2
Affiliations: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Huaihe Hospital of Henan University, Kaifeng 475000, China, Department of Neurology

Abstract:  Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently attracted increasing attention for their involvement in a wide variety of human neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the functional role and underlying mechanism of NEAT1 in PD. qRT-PCR was used to assess the expression of NEAT1 and miR-221, and the expression levels of Bcl-2 and Bax were detected by western blot. Cell viability and apoptosis were determined by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The changes of oxidative stress and neuroinflammation were evaluated by ELISA assay and qRT-PCR, respectively. The targeted interaction between NEAT1 and miR-221 was verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation assay. Our data supported that MPP+ treatment elevated NEAT1 expression in dose- and time-dependent manners in SH-SY5Y cells, and NEAT1 silencing relieved MPP+-induced suppression of cell viability and enhancement of cell apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells. Moreover, NEAT1 silencing alleviated MPP+-induced promotion of oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in SH-SY5Y cells. NEAT1 directly targeted miR-221 and negatively regulated miR-221 expression. More importantly, miR-221 mediated the protective effect of NEAT1 knockdown, as evidenced by the restoration of cell viability, cell apoptosis, oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in MPP+-induced SH-SY5Y cells. In conclusion, our study suggested that NEAT1 silencing alleviated MPP+-induced neuronal damage by sponging miR-221 in SH-SY5Y cells, highlighting the role of NEAT1 as a potential molecular target for PD therapy. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The images in the article, and the raw data provided by the authors, were screened by an image integrity expert. Based on the analysis of the raw data and comparison with the published images, the raw data bands may have been generated and then placed onto a false background. Therefore, the raw data provided by the authors cannot be used as verifiable raw data to validate the published images. Furthermore, the raw data provided by the authors was found to closely resemble raw data for a number of other articles, which is unexpected given that there are completely different author lists for these articles. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of both the data in the article and the raw data provided by the authors, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable. Yong Chen does not agree to the retraction. The other authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction. Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances Date: 19th January 2021 ,