RETRACTED ARTICLE: LncRNA TUG1 was upregulated in osteoporosisand regulates the proliferation and apoptosis of osteoclasts
Authors: Chunying Liu
Ye Han
Ming Lei
Shaosong Sun
Wenkui Zheng
Xi Xia
Yanan Niu
Journal: Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (2019)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: Apoptosis; Osteoclast; Osteoporosis; Proliferation; lncRNA TUG1.
Affiliations: Department of Orthopaedics, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding City, 071000, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China., Department of Pharmacology, School of Clinical Medicine, Hebei University, Baoding City, 071000, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China., Department of Orthopaedics, Baoding First Central Hospital, No. 320, Great Wall North Street, Baoding City, 071000, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China. .

Abstract:  Background: Long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) TUG1 plays critical roles in the development of human cancers. Its inhibition has been proved to participate in ankylosing spondylitis, which is an inverse pathological procedure of osteoporosis. In the present study, we aim to investigate the role of lncRNA TUG1 in ankylosing spondylitis. Materials and methods: Expressions of lncRNA TUG1 in plasma of 98 patients with osteoporosis and 60 healthy participants were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Diagnostic values of lncRNA CASC11 for osteoclasts were performed by the ROC curve with osteoporosis patients as positive and healthy participants as negative. All experiments were repeated 3 times. Mean ± standard deviation was calculated. Results: We found that plasma lncRNA TUG1 was upregulated in osteoporosis patients than in healthy participants. Upregulation of plasma lncRNA TUG1 distinguished osteoporosis patients from healthy participants. LncRNA TUG1 level increased with the advances of clinical stages. Over-expression of lncRNA TUG1 promoted the proliferation and inhibited the apoptosis of mice osteoclasts, while lncRNA TUG1 siRNA silencing played an opposite role. In addition, lncRNA TUG1 over-expression led to downregulated PTEN, while lncRNA TUG1 siRNA silencing played an opposite role. Conclusion: Therefore, lncRNA TUG1 is upregulated in osteoporosis and regulates the proliferation and apoptosis of osteoclasts. lncRNA TUG1 knockdown may serve as a promising therapeutic target for osteoporosis by inhibiting the proliferation and promoting the apoptosis of osteoclasts through PTEN. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 This paper is part of a set of 7 papers that all have the following ethics statement:  *The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Maternity and Child Care Center of Liuzhou. The research has been carried out in accordance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki. All patients and healthy volunteers provided written informed consent prior to their inclusion within the study.* However, none of these 7 studies were performed at the Liuzhou hospital and none of the authors are affiliated with that hospital. The 7 papers and their affiliations are the following: * Ye Han, Chunying Liu, Ming Lei, Shaosong Sun, Wenkui Zheng, Yanan Niu, Xi Xia, LncRNA TUG1 was upregulated in osteoporosis and regulates the proliferation and apoptosis of osteoclasts, Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (2019) 14:416, DOI: 10.1186 s13018-019-1430-4, Department of Orthopaedics, Baoding First Central Hospital, Baoding City * Yunyong Liu, Mengdan Li, Huihui Yu, Haozhe Piao, LncRNA SRA1 is down-regulated in HPV-negative cervical squamous cell carcinoma and regulates cancer cell behaviors, Bioscience Reports (2019) 39 BSR20191226, DOI: 10.1042 BSR20191226, Department of Neurosurgery, Cancer Hospital of China Medical University, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang City * Min Hu, Yaowu Han, Ying Zhang, Yuanfeng Zhou, Lin Ye, lncRNA TINCR sponges miR-214-5p to upregulate ROCK1 in hepatocellular carcinoma, BMC Medical Genetics (2020) 21:2, DOI: 10.1186 s12881-019-0940-6, Department of Pathology, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei * Yu Fu, Limin Cai, Xuexue Lei, Dunwei Wang, Circular RNA ABCB10 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression by increasing HMG20A expression by sponging miR-670-3p, Cancer Cell Int (2019) 19:338, DOI: 10.1186 s12935-019-1055-z, Department of Anesthesiology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin * Zhaohua Tian, Congyao Tang, Zhigang Wang, Neuroprotective effect of ginkgetin in experimental cerebral ischemia reperfusion via apoptosis inhibition and PI3K Akt mTOR signaling pathway activation, J Cell Biochem. 2019;1-9, DOI: 10.1002 jcb.29169, Emergency Department, Shenzhen Longgang District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen * Qing-an-zi Wang, Yongxiu Yang, Xiaolei Liang, LncRNA CTBP1-AS2 sponges miR-216a to upregulate PTEN and suppress endometrial cancer cell invasion and migration, Journal of Ovarian Research (2020) 13:37, DOI: 10.1186 s13048-020-00639-2, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Key Laboratory for Gynecologic Oncology Gansu Province, the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou City, Gansu Province * Ding Zhu, Xueshuang Huang, Fang Liang, Lijing Zhao, LncRNA miR503HG interacts with miR-31- 5p through multiple ways to regulate cancer cell invasion and migration in ovarian cancer, Journal of Ovarian Research (2020) 13:3, DOI: 10.1186 s13048-019-0599-9, Biomedical Research Center, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua City, Hunan Province The textual similarities of the Ethics Statement, and the listing of a very different hospital suggest that the writing of the paper might have been outsourced. This, together with e.g. very small standard deviations in several graphs, makes me concerned about the data as well. Could the authors share the raw data of this study, please? , 
 Retracted [12 October 2020] . ---------------------------------------------------- The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article [1] due to lack of evidence that the study has received ethics approval. After publication it has come to the Editoru2019s attention that in the body of the article the authors state that their study was approved by Baoding First Central Hospital. However, in the Ethics declarations section, the authors state that their study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Maternity and Child Care Center of Liuzhou. The authors have not provided documentation of approval from an ethics committee for this study. The authors have not responded to any correspondence regarding this retraction. ,