EDAG-1 promotes proliferation and invasion of human thyroid cancer cells by activating MAPK/Erk and AKT signal pathways
Authors: Xin-Yi Wang
You-Zhi Xu
Zhong-Qian Hu
Wen-Qing Li
Si-Ying Wang
Lixin Kan
Dan-Lei Chen
Hao-Shu Fang
Xian-Fang Zheng
Journal: Cancer Biology & Therapy (2016)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: AKT; EDAG-1; MAPK/Erk; SW579 cells; invasion
Affiliations: a Department of Pathophysiology , School of Basic Medicine, Anhui Medical University , Hefei , Anhui , PR China., b Department of Ultrasound , Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University , Nanjing , Jiangsu , PR China., c Department of Clinical Medicine , Anhui Medical University , Hefei , Anhui , PR China., d Department of Neurology , Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University , Chicago , IL , USA.

Abstract:  Erythroid differentiation-associated gene (EDAG) is differentially expressed in normal hematopoietic progenitor/stem cells and a variety of embryonic tissues. High EDAG-1 expression is also found in human thyroid cancer cells and peripheral blood of patients with leukemia, but its functional significance was unclear. Current study aims to further clarify the expression pattern of EDAG-1 and tests its roles in proliferation and invasion of human thyroid cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. To this end, we have performed gain-of-function and loss-of-function studies to clarify how EDAG-1 regulates the proliferation, invasion, and adhesion ability of human thyroid cancer cells SW579cells. We found that overexpression of EDAG-1 promoted the proliferation, invasion, and adhesion of human thyroid cancer cells, whereas silencing of EDAG-1 reversed all these changes and reduced the tumorigenesis risk of nude mice. Mechanistically, we found that overexpression of EDAG-1 activated the MAPK/Erk and AKT signal pathways. These findings provide novel insights of the role of EDAG-1 in thyroid tumors, and may have direct clinical implication. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 Two images in Figure 4a appear to overlap, after adjusting dimensions. This suggests that this was more than the mistaken selection of an original image. There may be more issues. *** ![file] , 
 Dear Manager I m very sorry for the trouble and response so late. I found the most original image of scratch experiment in this article, which was preserved by Zhang Xianfang in November 2010 and January 2011 respectively. Zheng is a graduate student of mine and has graduated to work. These pictures were given to me as raw experimental data when she left school after graduation. I checked these data and found that the fig4a pictures involved in the problem may have been wrong from the beginning, and her postgraduate thesis also had the same error. I personally think the reason for this error is not falsification. It may be that she made an inexplicable error when she took pictures with a microscope camera and saved them. Judging from other data, this experiment was indeed done at that time, and there must be three groups of cells. The 0h group used the same tip to scratch. There should be no big difference in the distance between the three groups, and this is a very simple experiment, so there is no need to make a fake. Later, the first author just collated the article according to the results she provided, without careful review. As a corresponding author, I collated and published it without careful examination. It shows that our whole scientific research process is not rigorous. We will learn from it. Please give us a chance to correct it. I can t attach the whole pictures in this website. I sent them to editor office. for some reasonuff0cI need more time to check another mistakes and response respectively. Thank you! , 
 #2 Thank you and good luck with your revisions. You may post a link here to an external site (such as Imgur.com or Google Drive) to provide readers access to larger original images. ,