Retraction to: Cell Death & Disease https://doi.org/10.1038/s41419-020-2250-5, published online 22 January 2020

The Editors-in-Chief have retracted this article. After publication, concerns were raised regarding image similarities between this article and previous papers from different author groups, specifically:

  • Two images in Fig. 4h appear highly similar to those in Fig. 1f of [1].

  • The images in Fig. 7b appear highly similar to those in Fig. 8a of [2] with different cropping and rotation.

  • The images in Fig. 8a appear highly similar to those in Figs. 4j and 5h of [3].

Further checks by the Publisher identified a number of further concerns:

  • Fig. 4d SKBR-3-TR CQ+ GAPDH appears highly similar to Fig. 5d SKBR-3-TR Control GAPDH.

  • Fig. 4d BT474-TR CQ- and CQ+ GAPDH appear highly similar to Fig. 5d BT474-TR Control and miR-567 GAPDH, respectively.

  • Some of the blots in Figs. 7d and 8c appear to have irregularities in the backgrounds.

  • The GSE104076 microarray dataset information [4] does not state that either cell group was resistant to trastuzumab, which makes it unsuitable for analysis of differential miRNAs between trastuzumab-resistant cells and -sensitive cells.

The Editors-in-Chief therefore no longer have confidence in the presented data and the conclusions of the article.

None of the authors have responded to any correspondence from the editor or publisher about this retraction.