MiRNA-584 suppresses the progression of ovarian cancer by negatively regulating LPIN1
Authors: H-L Ma
L Yang
Journal: European review for medical and pharmacological sciences (2020)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: miRNA-584; ovarian cancer; LPIN1; expression level; regulatory effect
Affiliations: Department of Gynecology, Zhoukou Central Hospital of Henan Province, Zhoukou, China. .

Abstract:  Objective: The aim of the study was to detect the expression level of microRNA-584 (miRNA-584) in ovarian cancer (OCa) and to elucidate its regulatory effect on OCa progression by regulating LPIN1. Patients and methods: Expression levels of miRNA-584 and LPIN1 in 31 matched OCa tissues and paracancerous tissues were detected. The relationship of miRNA-584 level with clinical indicators and prognosis of OCa patients was analyzed. Influences of miRNA-584/LPIN1 regulatory loop on malignant phenotypes of OVCAR3 and PEO1 cells were assessed. In addition, the interaction between miRNA-584 and LPIN1 was confirmed by Dual-Luciferase reporter gene assay and rescue experiments. Results: MiRNA-584 was lowly expressed in OCa tissues, while LPIN1 was highly expressed. OCa patients expressing a low level of miRNA-584 suffered from higher rates of lymphatic metastasis and distant metastasis, as well as worse survival. The overexpression of miRNA-584 in OVCAR3 cells attenuated proliferative and migratory abilities, while the knockdown of miRNA-584 in PEO1 cells yielded the opposite results. LPIN1 was verified to be the target binding to miRNA-584 and its level was negatively regulated by miRNA-584. The overexpression of LPIN1 accelerated OCa cells to proliferate and migrate. Importantly, LPIN1 was responsible for OCa progression regulated by miRNA-584. Conclusions: MiRNA-584 is downregulated in OCa tissues and cell lines. MiRNA-584 level is correlated with lymphatic metastasis, distant metastasis, and poor prognosis in OCa patients. By negatively regulating LPIN1, miRNA-584 suppresses the malignant progression of OCa. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 A panel in Figure 4D from this paper appears to show an overlap with a panel in Figure 2C of K Jia et al., ERMPS (2020) DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202003_20508 https: pubpeer.com publications 11550517E8A0503AFDC49D460BAD30 Shown with red boxes. ![file] , 
 Figure 2D: * Orange boxes: A panel in Figure 2D appears to overlap with a panel in Figure 4C from another paper by different authors, where it represents a very different experiment. That paper is: Y Li et al., ERMPS (2020), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202002_20169 - https: pubpeer.com publications FF65094B1FF240E784366446E88AE2 Can the authors please explain how two very different research groups can publish a photo of the same specimen? ![file] , 
 This paper appears to be part of a set of papers (n=170 as of today and growing) that share a very similar layout. Subsets of these papers appear to share similar Kaplan-Meier survival plots, correlation plots, and overlapping photos of wound-healing, transwell assays, etc. Yet, there is little to no overlap between the authors of these papers or their departments and affiliated institutions. The very similar layout and overlapping photos suggests these papers might have all been created by the same entity, perhaps a paper mill. I have been calling this set the  Comb papers, because the Kaplan-Meier plots have a comb-like appearance. For PubPeer user Hoya Camphorifolia, the survival plots look like Lego blocks. This particular paper is part of a subset of at least three papers within the Comb papers that share very similar correlation plots: * L Yang et al., ERMPS (2020), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202002_20156 - https: pubpeer.com publications B324F0C5CC90125D4A9AA9F883A5DC * WH Tong et al., ERMPS (2020), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_202006_21650 - https: pubpeer.com publications B9D1695D3FF5C8CBF592ABF89FFA07 * YY Zhang et al., ERMPS (2019), DOI: 10.26355 eurrev_201904_17685 - https: pubpeer.com publications 89034A18A6D0A2ACB2FBCE505D6EED Here is a compilation of the correlation plots from these three different papers. Colored boxes and lines point out some characteristic groups of data points. ![file] ,