Retracted : LncRNA‐LET relieves hypoxia‐induced injury in H9c2 cells through regulation of miR‐138
Authors: Yugeng Li
Jianwei Li
Pengzhen Zhang
Xiaoying Jiang
Hongli Lin
Wenjian Zheng
Zhenrui Pan
Journal: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: H9c2 cell; hypoxia; ischemic heart disease (IHD); lncRNA-LET; microRNA-138.
Affiliations: Department of Cardiovascular II, Qingdao Hiser Medical Center, Qingdao, China., Department of Interventional Therapy, Qingdao Hiser Medical Center, Qingdao, China., Department of Cadre Healthcare, Qingdao Hiser Medical Center, Qingdao, China.

Abstract:  Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a common cardiovascular disease, occurs when coronary artery blood circularity cannot match with the heart's need. The present work attempted to study the effects of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) low expression in tumor (LET) on the progression of IHD. H9c2 cells were injured by hypoxia to mimic a cell model of IHD. The effects of lncRNA-LET on hypoxia-injured H9c2 cells were tested by using cell counting kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, and Western blot analysis. MicroRNA-138 (miR-138) expression was tested by a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and the expression of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38MAPK (p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase) proteins was measured by Western blot analysis. We found that hypoxia exposure significantly repressed the viability of H9c2 cells, and induced apoptosis. Meanwhile, phosphorylation of JNK and p38MAPK was enhanced by hypoxia. The expression of lncRNA-LET was repressed by hypoxia. Overexpression of lncRNA-LET attenuated hypoxia-induced injury in H9c2 cells. Moreover, miR-138 was a downstream effector of lncRNA-LET, that miR-138 was highly expressed in lncRNA-LET-overexpressed cell. The cardioprotective effects of lncRNA-LET were abolished when miR-138 was silenced. In conclusion, this study revealed the cardioprotective function of lncRNA-LET. lncRNA-LET conferred its cardioprotective effects possibly via upregulation of miR-138 and thus repressing the JNK and p38MAPK pathways. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 The Western blots in this paper have an interesting layout that appears to be shared with other papers, such as these papers published in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry: * Ying Liu et al. 2019, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.29568 * Long Liu et al. 2020, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.29642 * Lin Zhang et al. 2019, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.28729 * Xiaoliang Yang et al. 2019, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.28829 Western blot panels within the same figure, and across figures and papers, appear to share the same background, while the bands are regularly spaced, all have similar rounded edges, without the usual smudges and specks. As an example, here are Figure 2A and 2B. Contrast enhanced to bring out more detail. ![file] , 
 Parts of the same background appear to be visible in Figure 3E. Note the lighter dots in the top left of each panel, and the  M shaped pattern on top of the left panel. ![file] Could the authors provide the original blots, please? , 
 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 [8 June 2021] . -------------------------------------------------- The above article, published online on 21 June 2019 in Wiley Online Library , has been retracted by agreement between the the journal s Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Christian Behl, and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The retraction has been agreed following an investigation based on allegations raised by a third party. Several flaws and inconsistencies between results presented and experimental methods described were found, the editors consider the conclusions of this article to be invalid. The authors collaborated in the investigation initially, but were not available for a final confirmation of the retraction. , 
 http: med.china.com.cn content pid 291148 tid 1013 iswap 1 The paper  LncRNA-LET relieves hypoxia-induced injury in H9c2 cells through regulation of miR-138 published by Lin Hongli as the corresponding author and Li Yugeng as the first author of Qingdao Haici Medical Group, Shandong Province, has been found to contain tampered data. , Fabrication of the research process, and academic misconduct that improperly signed. The relevant responsible personnel shall be dealt with as follows: 1. To the first author Li Yugeng and the corresponding author Lin Hongli: talk about scientific research integrity admonitions, public notifications and criticisms in the hospital, immediately contact the magazine to withdraw the manuscript involved; cancel the five-year application or application for science and technology plan projects, science and technology awards, and science and technology talent titles. Cancel the five-year professional and technical position promotion qualification; 2. To Li Jianwei (second author), Zhang Pengzhen (third author), Jiang Xiaoying (fourth author), Pan Zhenrui (fifth author), Zheng Wenjian (sixth author): talks on scientific research integrity and admonitions, public notifications and criticisms in the hospital, Cancel the one-year application or application for science and technology plan projects, science and technology awards, and science and technology talent titles, and cancel the qualification for professional and technical post promotion for one year. (Notification link: http: www.qdhaici.cn news_detail newsId=3314.html) ,