Retracted Article: ASIC1a involves acidic microenvironment-induced activation and autophagy of pancreatic stellate cells
Authors: Chang-Jing Zuo
Qian-Qian Wang
Guo-Rong Jia
Chao Wang
Tao Wang
Xiao Li
Gui-Xia Pan
Li-Ming Zhang
Journal: RSC Advances (2018)
Discipline: CHEMISTRY
Keywords: ASIC1a; pancreatic stellate cells; acid-induced; activation; autophagy
Affiliations: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China, Department of Marine Biotechnology, Faculty of Naval Medicine, Shanghai 200433

Abstract:  Acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a), as a member of the proton-gated cation channel family, can be activated by low extracellular pH, and takes part in many acidity-associated physiopathological processes. However, whether ASIC1a is expressed in human pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) and involved in acid-induced physiopathological events has not been reported yet. In this study, we investigated the expression of ASIC1a in PSCs and its possible role in the activation and autophagy of PSCs evoked by extracellular acid. Our results show that ASIC1a is present in PSCs, and an enhanced expression of ASIC1a occurs under acid stimuli. More importantly, the activation and autophagy of PSCs can be induced in acidic medium, and inhibition of ASIC1a by ASIC1a-specific blocker psalmotoxin-1 (PcTx1) or siRNA knockdown could suppress these two acid-associated processes. Collectively, our present study reports for the first time that ASIC1a is expressed in PSCs, and provides evidence for the involvement of ASIC1a in the acidic microenvironment-induced activation and autophagy of PSCs. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 Retraction of u2018ASIC1a involves acidic microenvironment-induced activation and autophagy of pancreatic stellate cellsu2019 by Tao Wang et al., RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 30950u201330956, DOI: 10.1039 C8RA03679A. The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article. After publication, the authors contacted the journal to explain that the published western blot images had been edited and arranged because some bands not mentioned in the article had been deleted and the loading order of the samples in the original experimental groups had been adjusted. There is evidence of manipulation affecting the western blot images in Fig. 3A and 4A, and discrepancies in the background of Fig. 6A. The authors confirmed that they do not have the whole raw data for the published western blot images. Although the authors state that they have repeated the experiment and obtained similar results, the concerns over the integrity and validity of the images shown in the published article cannot be dispelled. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, and the lack of raw data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable. All of the authors agree with the retraction. Signed: Tao Wang, Qian-qian Wang, Gui-xia Pan, Guo-rong Jia, Xiao Li, Chao Wang, Li-ming Zhang and Chang-jing Zuo Date: 7th April 2021 Retraction endorsed by Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances ,