LncRNA SRA1 is down-regulated in HPV-negative cervical squamous cell carcinoma and regulates cancer cell behaviors
Authors: Haozhe Piao
Mengdan Li
Yunyong Liu
Huihui Yu
Journal: Bioscience Reports (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: HPV; cervical squamous cell carcinoma; lncRNA SRA1; miR-9.
Affiliations: Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang City 110042, Liaoning Province, P.R. China., Department of Neurosurgery, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, NO. 44 Xiaoheyan Road, Dadong District, Shenyang City 110042, Liaoning Province, P.R. China .

Abstract:  LncRNA SRA1 plays important roles in several types of human diseases. The present study aimed to explore the role of SRA1 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC). In the present study, we showed that plasma SRA1 was down-regulated in human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative CSCC patients but not in HPV-positive CSCC patients compared with healthy females. Down-regulated SRA1 distinguished HPV-negative CSCC patients from HPV-positive CSCC patients and healthy females. In HPV-negative CSCC patients, miR-9 was up-regulated and inversely correlated with SRA1. In HPV-negative CSCC cells, SRA1 overexpression caused the down-regulated miR-9, while miR-9 overexpression failed to affect SRA1. Moreover, SRA1 overexpression caused decreased, while miR-9 overexpression caused increased proliferation, migration and invasion rates of cancer cells. In addition, miR-9 overexpression attenuated the effects of SRA1 overexpression. Therefore, SRA1 is down-regulated in HPV-negative CSCC and regulates cancer cell behaviors possibly by down-regulating miR-9. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 This paper is part of a set of 7 papers that all have the following ethics statement:  *The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Maternity and Child Care Center of Liuzhou. The research has been carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. All patients and healthy volunteers provided written informed consent prior to their inclusion within the study.* However, none of these 7 studies were performed at the Liuzhou hospital and none of the authors are affiliated with that hospital. The 7 papers and their affiliations are the following: * Ye Han, Chunying Liu, Ming Lei, Shaosong Sun, Wenkui Zheng, Yanan Niu, Xi Xia, LncRNA TUG1 was upregulated in osteoporosis and regulates the proliferation and apoptosis of osteoclasts, Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (2019) 14:416, DOI: 10.1186 s13018-019-1430-4, Department of Orthopaedics, Baoding First Central Hospital, Baoding City * Yunyong Liu, Mengdan Li, Huihui Yu, Haozhe Piao, LncRNA SRA1 is down-regulated in HPV-negative cervical squamous cell carcinoma and regulates cancer cell behaviors, Bioscience Reports (2019) 39 BSR20191226, DOI: 10.1042 BSR20191226, Department of Neurosurgery, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang City * Min Hu, Yaowu Han, Ying Zhang, Yuanfeng Zhou, Lin Ye, lncRNA TINCR sponges miR-214-5p to upregulate ROCK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma, BMC Medical Genetics (2020) 21:2, DOI: 10.1186 s12881-019-0940-6, Department of Pathology, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei * Yu Fu, Limin Cai, Xuexue Lei, Dunwei Wang, Circular RNA ABCB10 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by increasing HMG20A expression by sponging miR-670-3p, Cancer Cell Int (2019) 19:338, DOI: 10.1186 s12935-019-1055-z, Department of Anesthesiology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin * Zhaohua Tian, Congyao Tang, Zhigang Wang, Neuroprotective effect of ginkgetin in experimental cerebral ischemia reperfusion via apoptosis inhibition and PI3K Akt mTOR signaling pathway activation, J Cell Biochem. 2019;1-9, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.29169, Emergency Department, Shenzhen Longgang District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen * Qing-an-zi Wang, Yongxiu Yang, Xiaolei Liang, LncRNA CTBP1-AS2 sponges miR-216a to upregulate PTEN and suppress endometrial cancer cell invasion and migration, Journal of Ovarian Research (2020) 13:37, DOI: 10.1186 s13048-020-00639-2, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Key Laboratory for Gynecologic Oncology Gansu Province, the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province * Ding Zhu, Xueshuang Huang, Fang Liang, Lijing Zhao, LncRNA miR503HG interacts with miR-31- 5p through multiple ways to regulate cancer cell invasion and migration in ovarian cancer, Journal of Ovarian Research (2020) 13:3, DOI: 10.1186 s13048-019-0599-9, Biomedical Research Center, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua City, Hunan Province The textual similarities of the Ethics Statement, and the listing of a very different hospital suggest that the writing of the paper might have been outsourced. This, together with e.g. very small standard deviations in several graphs, makes me concerned about the data as well. Could the authors share the raw data of this study, please? , 
 The Editorial Office has been made aware of potential issues surrounding the scientific validity of this paper, hence has issued an expression of concern to notify readers whilst the Editorial Office investigates. , 
 Retracted [1 February 2021] . -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This article is being retracted from Bioscience Reports at the request of the Editorial Board following receipt of a notification from a reader, alerting the Editorial Board to a potential concern with the ethics statement in the article, which had similarities with other published papers and did not match the affiliations of any of the authors. The authors were contacted by the Journal, but did not respond to any correspondence from the Editorial Office. Subsequently, the Editorial Office has been contacted by the authors to state that they were unaware of the submission to the Journal and that the email addresses used were not theirs (despite this correspondence email being the same as that used throughout the article history and as listed in the Version of Record). In this latest correspondence from the authors, they ask that the paper be withdrawn. The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board agree with the retraction. ,