MicroRNA-361-5p inhibits papillary thyroid carcinoma progression by targeting ROCK1
Authors: Guang Chen
Zhengmin Wang
Bingfei Dong
Tao Jiang
Rui Li
Journal: Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (2018)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Key words; Papillary thyroid carcinoma; ROCK1; Thyroid cancer; miR-361-5p.
Affiliations: Department of Thyroid Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, 71# Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, China., Departments of Hepatobiliary Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, 126 Xiantai Street, Changchun 130033, China. Electronic address: ., Department of Thyroid Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, 71# Xinmin Street, Changchun 130021, China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the Authors and Editor-in-Chief. The authors notified the journal and requested retraction of the article, stating: “We recently found that miR-361 did not affect the tumor growth in vivo. All the authors want to retract this paper. Furthermore, we apologize to the readership of the Journal for any inconvenience caused”. The journal was also alerted to an associated PubPeer post, in which images of xenograft tumors within Figure 6B, and images of colony formation assays within Figure 2C, appear to have been published in other articles, as detailed here: https://pubpeer.com/publications/0DA940799BE0D567BAC4659CDAB13F#. The journal requested the corresponding author provide a more detailed explanation to these concerns and associated raw data, but this request was not satisfactorily fulfilled. The Editor-in-Chief assessed the case and decided to retract the article. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 *[left]* Fig 6B.  Tumor tissues were imaged after the mice were sacrificed . *[right]* Fig 3B from [Fei et al (2018)] .  Shown are images of xenograft tumors at 28 days post injection. ![file] In both cases, the inconsistent shadows and the absence of a single consistent direction of lighting implies that the images of tumors have been composed digitally rather than physically, so the presence of the ruler doesn t really provide any quantitative scale. More curious is the fact that an **identical** image of a ruler was used in both composites. ![file] , 
 #1 Further evidence that these tumor identity parades are digital compositions is the appearance of four of them in a third composition again lacking in any consistency of shadows or lighting, though without the ruler. ![file] Fig 6B from [Li et al (2017)] .  Photographs of xenograft tumors. ![file] , 
 #1 Fig 6B again. ![file] Fig 2D inset, from [Xia, Li Lv (2016)] .  The mice were sacrificed at 30 days after inoculation, and the tumors were weighed . ![file] UPDATE: Another sighting! Fig 6B from [Yu et al (2016)] . ![] , 
 From the Department of Unexpected Similarities: *[below]* Fig 2C.  The colony formation assay showed the effect of miR-361-5p on TPC-1 cell colony formation . *[above]* Fig 5D from [Lin et al (2017)] .  Estimation of number of colonies in SKOV3 cells stable expressing miR-363 or miR-NC transfected with NOB1 plasmid without 3u2019UTR . ![file] ,