MiR-140-5p inhibits cell proliferation and metastasis by regulating MUC1 via BCL2A1/MAPK pathway in triple negative breast cancer
Authors: Wei You
Qinheng Yang
Guang Chen
Bofan Yu
Yang Yu
Journal: Cell Cycle (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: BCL2A1; MUC1; Mir-140-5p; TNBC.
Affiliations: Department of Breast Surgery, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University, People's Hospital of Henan University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China

Abstract:  Noncoding RNAs play important roles in the progression of malignant tumors, including triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Accumulating evidence supported the involvement of the oncogenic MUC1 in tumor metastasis. Our study aimed to explore the roles of miR-140-5p and MUC1 in TNBC and identify the potential underlying mechanisms. In the present study, we found that miR-140-5p expression was significantly decreased in TNBC tissues and associated with advanced clinical features and poor prognosis. MiR-140-5p overexpression suppressed TNBC cells proliferation, invasion ability in vitro and reduced tumor growth in vivo. Subsequently, MUC1 was verified to be a direct target of miR-140-5p in TNBC. Furthermore, we revealed that MUC1 could regulate MAPK pathway through regulating BCL2A1 expression in TNBC. Thus, our study indicated that miR-140-5p might regulate MUC1 to suppress TNBC cells proliferation and metastasis by regulating BCL2A1/MAPK pathway, suggesting miR-140-5p could serve as a potential therapeutic target for TNBC. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 *[right]* Fig 2(h).  Upregulation of miR-140-5p suppressed TNBC cells invasion ability . *[left]* Fig 4(c) from [Li Zhang (2020)] .  Transwell invasion assay was used to explore the invasion ability of SUNE1 and HK-1 cells transfected with si-LINC01385 or si-NC . ![file] Could the authors of either paper comment on the appearance of the same invasion-assay images (horizontally or vertically flipped) in both? , 
  62 paired TNBC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues were collected postoperatively from January 2016 to December 2017. All patients did not receive any radiotherapy and or chemotherapy before surgery. Tumors were classified according to the tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) system of classification (2015 version) [15].  Next, we determined miR-140-5p expression in 62 paired TNBC tissues. Results showed that miR-140-5p expression was significantly decreased in TNBC tissues (Figure 1(c)). Low miR-140-5p expression was associated with advanced TNM stage and metastasis (Figure 1(d,e)). Subsequently, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that TNBC patients with low miR140-5p expression had a poor overall survival and disease-free survival compared to high miR-140-5p group (Figure 1(f,g)). Fig 1.  (c) QRT-PCR analysis showed miR-140-5p expression was downregulated in TNBC tissues compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues. (d, e) Low miR-140-5p expression was associated with advanced TNM stage and metastasis in TNBC patients. (f, g) MiR-140-5p expression was associated with poor overall survival and disease-free survival in TNBC patients . The actual Figure 1 has little to do with the text, or with its caption. ![file] 1(c) appears to compare a group of TNBC tissues with data for Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2 and Normal tissues. The number of data points is hard to count, but there seem to be 30-40 Normal points, not the 62 matched tissues described in the text. 1(d) contains 20+15+16+7 = 58 data points, in the four staging groups described in the text. 1(e) contains 20+14+11 = 45 points in three metastasis groups. Figs 1(f), 1(g) represent 1069 cases and presumably come from a different data set. Figs 1(d) and (e) are the same distribution of miR-140-5p expression values, grouped in different ways, but superimposing them reveals that each contains data points that are not present in the other. ![file] , 
 *[left]* Fig 3(i).  MiR-140-5p expression was negatively correlated associated with MUC1 expression in TNBC tissues . *[right]* Fig 5(j) from [Li Zhang (2020)] .  LINC01385 expression was negatively correlated with miR-140-3p expression in NPC tissues . Below, the two are superimposed to demonstrate the improbable number of points they share in common. ![file] , 
 Retracted [15 July 2022] . ------------------------ We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal *Cell Cycle*, have retracted the following article: Bofan Yu, Wei You, Guang Chen, Yang Yu, and Qinheng Yang. MiR-140-5p inhibits cell proliferation and metastasis by regulating MUC1 via BCL2A1 MAPK pathway in triple negative breast cancer. Cell Cycle. 2019;18(20):2641u20132650. doi: 10.1080 15384101.2019.1653107 Since publication, concerns have been raised about the integrity of the data in the article. When approached for an explanation, the authors have been unable to address all the concerns raised and have not been able to provide all their original data. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed. The authors have agreed to retract the article. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as u2018Retractedu2019. ,