Retracted : Silence of lncRNA HEIH suppressed liver cancer cell growth and metastasis through miR‐199a‐3p/mTOR axis
Authors: De Cao
Jingxia Hu
Xin Liu
Jianling Liu
Gaoxue Li
Yongbiao Ma
Journal: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma; lncRNA HEIH; mTOR signaling; miR-199a-3p.
Affiliations: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang, China., Department of Anaesthesiology, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang, China., Department of Gastroenterology, Shouguang People's Hospital, Shouguang, China., Department of General Surgery, Shouguang People's Hospital, Shouguang, China., Department of Medical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Weifang Medical University, Weifang, China., Infection Management Office, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang, China.

Abstract:  Background/aims: High expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HEIH) is an long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) which is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Aberrant expression of HEIH is implicated in regulating HCC cells growth and metastasis. This study attempted to illustrate the effects of HEIH on HCC cell lines. Methods: The expression changes of HEIH in HCC tumor tissues and the paracancerous tissues derived from 20 patients with HCC were tested. Effects of HEIH on Huh7 and Hep3B cells viability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion were assessed by silencing HEIH in vitro. Furthermore, downstream effector and signaling of HEIH were studied. Results: As compared with the paracancerous tissues, the HEIH expression was highly expressed in tumor tissues. Silence of HEIH significantly reduced Huh7 and Hep3B cells viability, migration, and invasion, but induced apoptosis. It was coupled with the downregulated CyclinD1, Bcl-2, MMP-2, MMP-8, Vimentin, the upregulated p53, Bax, as well as the cleaved caspase-3. MicroRNA (miR)-199a-3p was identified as a downstream effector of HEIH, as its expression was upregulated by HEIH silence, and the functional effects of HEIH on Huh7 and Hep3B cells were all attenuated when miR-199a-3p expression was suppressed. Furthermore, HEIH silence suppressed the activation of mTOR signaling via upregulating miR-199a-3p. Conclusion: HEIH silence might be a promising target for suppressing HCC cells growth and metastasis. Silence of HEIH exerted its antitumor properties possibly through upregulating miR-199a-3p, and thereby blockage of mTOR signaling. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 The Western blots and other figures in this paper have an interesting layout that appears to be shared with many other papers, as discussed in a January 2020 post on Leonid Schneider s blog: https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers The list of these papers is available here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1KXqTAyl4j-jVorFPMD2XRpr76LcIKJ0CVyIvRj0exYQ edit?usp=sharing In almost all papers, 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, and with some bands showing a recognizable  jumping sardine shape. Also in almost all papers, bar graphs show a characteristic layout with bars in solid shades of grey, and the left-most bar in black, as well as double-edged error bars. Many papers have  cell viability and  apoptotic cells graphs. To illustrate the recognizable layout of the graphs in this paper, here is Figure 2. ![file] In some of these papers, including this one, flow cytometry plots show an unnaturally dense and well defined  hairball of events in Q3 with a few regularly spaced events in Q1 and Q2, and a rectangular or crab-shaped block of events in Q4. In this particular paper, the Q3 hairballs share some unexpected similarities. To illustrate, here is Figure 4D. Boxes of the same color draw attention to regions that look similar to each other. ![file] , 
 Retracted [8 June 2021] . -------------------------------------------------- The above article, published online on 29 May 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. ,