Iron chelator-induced up-regulation of Ndrg1 inhibits proliferation and EMT process by targeting Wnt/β-catenin pathway in colon cancer cells
Authors: Xuting Zhi
Zhiqiang Chen
Shang Gao
Tao Li
Jing Sun
Yanfeng Liu
Minhua Zheng
Journal: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (2018)
Discipline: BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Keywords: Colon cancer cells; EMT process; Inhibits proliferation; Iron chelator-induced; Targeting Wnt/β-catenin pathway.
Affiliations: Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250012, PR China. Electronic address: ., Department of General Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, PR China. Electronic address: ., Department of General Surgery, Qilu Hospital (Qingdao), Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong, 266000, PR China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  Di-2-pyridylketone-4,4-dimethyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (Dp44mT), as the novel iron chelator, has been reported to inhibit the tumorigenesis and progression of various cancer cells. However, whether Dp44mT has anticancer effects in colon cancer cells is still unknown. Here, we investigated the antitumor action of Dp44mT in colon cancer and its underlying mechanisms, and the connections between Dp44mT and N-myc downstream-regulated genes 1(Ndrg1). We used cell viability, migration and invasion assay, flow cytometry, western blot and qRT-PCR to examine the anticancer effects of Dp44mT and Ndrg1. We found that Dp44mT suppressed cell viability, migration, invasion and induced apoptosis of colon cancer cells and over-expression of Ndrg1 also suppressed cell viability, migration, invasion and induced apoptosis of colon cancer cells. Dp44mT attenuated the TGF-β1-induced EMT in colon cancer cells, and Dp44mT could up-regulate Ndrg1 expression level. Overexpression of Ndrg1 attenuates the TGF-β1-induced EMT, Dp44mT and Ndrg1 suppressed EMT through activation of Wnt/β catenin signaling pathway. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that Dp44mT/Ndrg1 have effective anticancer capability in colon cancer cells and that may represent a promising treatment strategy for human colon cancer. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 ![file] Plagiarising a comment from Elisabeth Bik: 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, [16 November 2021] . ---------------------------- The journal would like to alert readers to the fact that the paper has been included in a general set of allegations of several hundred papers described here: https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 02 21 the-tadpole-paper-mill . The journal is investigating the allegations according to COPE best practice. In the meantime, the Editor is issuing this Expression of Concern to alert readers regarding the concerns raised about the reliability of the published images and data. We will provide further updates to readers once the investigations have concluded. , 
 Retracted, [ 30 July 2020 ] .  The Editor-in-Chief has decided to retract this paper as the results cannot be relied upon. The authors contacted the editorial office admitting to outsourcing some of the experiments, specifically identifying that the Western Blot images were generated by a third-party laboratory. The authors tried to validate the results of the paper and obtain the raw data but were unable to do so, and offered to run additional experiments to correct the paper. The authors claim that the results and conclusions are still valid. The authors utilised potentially fraudulent data to generate their conclusions in this paper, which is in significant violation of journal policies and scientific best practice. The paper is therefore retracted. ,