Long non-coding RNA highly up-regulated in liver cancer protects tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced inflammatory injury by down-regulation of microRNA-101 in ATDC5 cells
Authors: Zongru Wang
Chunzheng Gao
Qiang Wang
Peigang Chu
Journal: International immunopharmacology (2019)
Discipline: PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY
Keywords: Long non-coding RNA highly up-regulated in liver cancer (lncRNA-HULC); MAPK; NF-κB; Osteoarthritis; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α).
Affiliations: The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250000, China., Department of Joint Surgery, Taian City Central Hospital, Taian 271000, China., Second Department of Orthopedics, The First People's Hospital of Taian, Taian 271000, China., The Second Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250000, China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a familiar joint degenerative disease. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play vital roles in the pathogenesis of OA. Nevertheless, the regulatory impacts of lncRNA highly up-regulated in liver cancer (lncRNA-HULC) on OA remain dimness. The study tried to probe the protective effect of HULC on ATDC5 cells against tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)-induced inflammatory injury. Methods: Relative expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1) and HULC in OA cartilage tissues and normal cartilage tissues were determined by RT-qPCR. TNF-α induced inflammatory injury model in ATDC5 cells was constructed, and the biological functions of HULC overexpression or suppression in TNF-α-injured ATDC5 cells were assessed. The relevancy between miR-101 and HULC was investigated by utilizing bioinformatics prediction, luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull-down and immunoprecipitation. MiR-101 mimic and inhibitor were transfected into ATDC5 cells, and its regulatory effect on TNF-α-injured ATDC5 cells was examined. Further, NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways were finally detected by western blot. Results: Enhancement of IL-6, IL-8 and MCP-1 were observated in OA cartilage tissues, but repression of HULC was discovered in OA cartilage tissues. HULC expression was decreased by TNF-α treatment, and overexpressed HULC significantly relieved TNF-α-induced ATDC5 cells injury. Additionally, miR-101 was mutual repressed with HULC, and overexpressed miR-101 reversed the protective effect of HULC in TNF-α-injured ATDC5 cells. Besides, HULC blocked NF-κB and MAPK pathways via repression of miR-101. Conclusions: The discoveries testified that HULC protected ATDC5 cells against TNF-α-induced inflammatory injury by repression of miR-101. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 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 , 
 Expression of Concern, [November 2021] . ------------------------- The journal would like to alert readers to the fact that the publication u201cLong non-coding RNA highly up-regulated in liver cancer protects tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced inflammatory injury by down-regulation of microRNA-101 in ATDC5 cellsu201d, which was published in the *International Immunopharmacology* 72 (2019) 148u2013158 https: doi.org 10.1016 j.intimp.2019.04.004 has been included in a general set of allegations of over 400 papers described here: https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 02 21 the-tadpole-paper-mill . Since the authors have not been able to provide raw data of sufficient quality and detail for the journal to independently audit the provenance and validity of the data, we are issuing this Expression of Concern to alert readers with regard to the concerns raised about the reliability of the published images and data. Editor-in-Chief International Immunopharmacology. ,