Emodin attenuates apoptosis and inflammation induced by LPS through up-regulating lncRNA TUG1 in murine chondrogenic ATDC5 cells
Authors: Zhiyuan Liang
Chunfeng Ren
Journal: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (2018)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Apoptosis; Emodin; Inflammatory response; Notch/NF-κB; Osteoarthritis
Affiliations: Department of Bone and Joint Surgery, Jining No.1 People's Hospital, Jining, 272011, Shandong, China., Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Jining No.1 People's Hospital, Jining 272011, Shandong, 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Abstract:  This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Concerns were raised about the background pattern of the Western Blots from Figures 4 and 5. Given the comments of Dr Elisabeth Bik 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 provide raw data of sufficient quality and detail for the journal to independently audit the provenance and validity of the data, and therefore the Editor-in-Chief decided to retract the article. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 This article is a falsification, where all the protein data presented as Western immunoblots are artificially made. This is seen by repetitive patterns in the Western immunblots (seen by adjusting the contrast). I have included just some examples from the article here. An updated list of the large number of affected articles in many different journals is presented here: https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers ![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. No date or separate retraction note yet. -------------------------------- This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Concerns were raised about the background pattern of the Western Blots from Figures 4 and 5. Given the comments of Dr Elisabeth Bik 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 provide raw data of sufficient quality and detail for the journal to independently audit the provenance and validity of the data, and therefore the Editor-in-Chief decided to retract the article. ,