Silence of LncRNA Protects Cardiomyocytes H9c2 against Hypoxic Injury via Sponging --
Authors: Ke-Xin Zhang
Ji-Yan Leng
Si-Tong Yang
Jian Du
Jia Liu
Journal: Molecules and Cells (2019)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: H9c2 cell; heart failure; hypoxia; lncRNA GAS5; miR-142-5p.
Affiliations: Department of Cadre Ward, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin 130021, China.

Abstract:  The regulatory role of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) in both cancerous and noncancerous cells have been widely reported. This study aimed to evaluate the role of lncRNA GAS5 in heart failure caused by myocardial infarction. We reported that silence of lncRNA GAS5 attenuated hypoxia-triggered cell death, as cell viability was increased and apoptosis rate was decreased. This phenomenon was coupled with the down-regulated expression of p53, Bax and cleaved caspase-3, as well as the up-regulated expression of CyclinD1, CDK4 and Bcl-2. At the meantime, the expression of four heart failure-related miRNAs was altered when lncRNA GAS5 was silenced (miR-21 and miR-142-5p were up-regulated; miR-30b and miR-93 were down-regulated). RNA immunoprecipitation assay results showed that lncRNA GAS5 worked as a molecular sponge for miR-142-5p. More interestingly, the protective actions of lncRNA GAS5 silence on hypoxia-stimulated cells were attenuated by miR-142-5p suppression. Besides, TP53INP1 was a target gene for miR-142-5p. Silence of lncRNA GAS5 promoted the activation of PI3K/AKT and MEK/ERK signaling pathways in a miR-142-5p-dependent manner. Collectively, this study demonstrated that silence of lncRNA GAS5 protected H9c2 cells against hypoxia-induced injury possibly via sponging miR-142-5p, functionally releasing TP53INP1 mRNA transcripts that are normally targeted by miR-142-5p. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 If I many plagiarise [a comment from another thread] :  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 Yugeng Li et al. 2019, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.29146 Xiaoliang Yang et al. 2019, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.28829 Ning Han et al. 2019, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.29638 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. For example, although the bands in Figure 2 appear to have different shapes, the background of these panels share some similarities. Here are Figs 2C and 2F with (at right) increased contrast to emphasise the identical background texture in each band. Other figures exhibit the same curious effect. ![file] , 
 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 ,