lncRNA A1BG-AS1 suppresses proliferation and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting miR-216a-5p
Authors: Tianxiang Chen
Liankang Sun
Wei Yang
Runkun Liu
Bowen Yao
Liang Wang
Guozhi Yin
Qiuran Xu
Jigang Bai
Journal: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry (2019)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: A1BG antisense RNA 1; hepatocellular carcinoma; miR-216a-5p; proliferation; tumor metastasis.
Affiliations: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China., Key Laboratory of Tumor Molecular Diagnosis and Individualized Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Abstract:  Extensive evidence indicate that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulates the tumorigenesis and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the expression and biological function of lncRNA A1BG antisense RNA 1 (A1BG-AS1) were poorly known in HCC. Here, we found the underexpression of A1BG-AS1 in HCC via analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Further analyses confirmed that A1BG-AS1 expression in HCC was markedly lower than that in noncancerous tissues based on our HCC cohort. Clinical association analysis revealed that low A1BG-AS1 expression correlated with poor prognostic features, such as microvascular invasion, high tumor grade, and advanced tumor stage. Follow-up data indicated that low A1BG-AS1 level evidently correlated with poor clinical outcomes of HCC patients. Moreover, forced expression of A1BG-AS1 repressed proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells in vitro. Conversely, A1BG-AS1 knockdown promoted these malignant behaviors in HepG2 cells. Mechanistically, A1BG-AS1 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA by directly sponging miR-216a-5p in HCC cells. Notably, miR-216a-5p restoration rescued A1BG-AS1 attenuated proliferation, migration and invasion of HCCLM3 cells. A1BG-AS1 positively regulated the levels of phosphatase and tensin homolog and SMAD family member 7, which were reduced by miR-216a-5p in HCC cells. Altogether, we conclude that A1BG-AS1 exerts a tumor suppressive role in HCC progression. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 I see a problem with all the Western immunoblots in this article: Figure 1 B,E: Three cases where single bands have been duplicated and presented as something else. In addition it looks like the same background has been used for all the blots. Figure 2 C,F: It looks like the same background has been used for all the blots. Figure 4 C,F: Same problem as Figure 2 C,F Figure 5 A,C: Same problem as FIgure 2 C,F and 4 C,F. In all images contrast and brightness have been adjusted to illustrate the case. ![file] ![file] ![file] , 
 Fig 1E with enhanced contrast, As Indigofera has noted, all the bands have the same background. ![file] ![file] , 
 Indigofera has also reported a second paper with the same calligraphic style of protein blobs superimposed on multiple copies of the identical background. Here at right, Fig 2E from [Liu et al (2019)] . ![] This is despite the lack of overlap between the author lists. Not to mention unconnected institutions from different cities. ![] , 
 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 , 
 Recently retracted. No date provided.  Retraction: u2018Intermedin attenuates cardiomyocytes hypoxiau2010injury through upregulating long noncoding RNA MALAT1u2019, by Long Liu, Haiming Xu, Jingze Zhang, Liquan Yin, Qini Zhao, J Cell Biochem. 2020 (Online Version of Record before inclusion in an issue): The above article, published online on 6 January 2020 in Wiley Online Library , has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal s Editor in Chief, Prof. Dr. Christian Behl, and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The authors asked to retract this manuscript and stated that not all cou2010authors agree on the usage of the published data, initially, but were not available for further comments during the investigation.  The retraction has been agreed following an investigation based on allegations raised by a third party and after the authors stated that not all cou2010authors agree on the usage of the published data, which could not be verified. ,