RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mst1-Hippo pathway triggers breast cancer apoptosis via inducing mitochondrial fragmentation in a manner dependent on JNK–Drp1 axis

This paper has been retracted.

Ouyang H, Zhou E, Wang H. Onco Targets Ther. 2019:12;1147–1159

We, the Editors and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy, have retracted the following article.

Following publication of the article, concerns were raised about the duplication of images from Figures 2, 3, 4 and 5 with images from other unrelated articles. Specifically,

• Images for Figure 2A have been duplicated with images for Figure 2C from Zheng, Z., Xiang, S., Wang, Y., Dong, Y., Li, Z., Xiang, Y…. Weng, X. (2020). NR4A1 promotes TNF‑α‑induced chondrocyte death and migration injury via activating the AMPK/Drp1/mitochondrial fission pathway Retraction in /10.3892/ijmm.2023.5288. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 45, 151–161. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2019.4398 (RETRACTED) and Figure 4H from Qin, R., Zhang, L., Lin, D., Xiao, F., & Guo, L. (2019). Sirt1 inhibits HG-induced endothelial injury: Role of Mff-based mitochondrial fission and F‑actin homeostasis-mediated cellular migration. International Journal of Molecular Medicine, 44, 89–102. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2019.4185.
• Images for Figure 3A have been duplicated with images for Figure 5H from Ruibing Li, Ting Xin, Dandan Li, Chengbin Wang, Hang Zhu, Hao Zhou (2018) Therapeutic effect of Sirtuin 3 on ameliorating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: The role of the ERK-CREB pathway and Bnip3-mediated mitophagy. Redox Biology, 18, 229–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2018.07.011 and Figure 5H from Lu C, Chen X, Wang Q, Xu X, Xu B. TNFα promotes glioblastoma A172 cell mitochondrial apoptosis via augmenting mitochondrial fission and repression of MAPK–ERK–YAP signaling pathways. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:7213–7227. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S184337.
• Images for Figure 3C have been duplicated with images for Figure 4g and 5a from Song Lan, Jingfang Liu, Xiangying Luo, Changlong Bi (2019) RETRACTED ARTICLE: Effects of melatonin on acute brain reperfusion stress: role of Hippo signaling pathway and MFN2-related mitochondrial protection. Cell Stress and Chaperones, 24, 235–245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12192-018-00960-2.
• Images for Figure 4E have been duplicated with images for Figure 3F from Zhao, Shu, Li, Peng, Wang, Peng, Yang, Jing, Song, Peng, Zhang, Dong and Zhou, Gang. “Nurr1 promotes lung cancer apoptosis via enhancing mitochondrial stress and p53-Drp1 pathway” Open Life Sciences, vol. 14, no. 1, 2019, pp. 262–274. https://doi.org/10.1515/biol-2019-0030.
• Images for Figure 5A have been duplicated with images for Figure 1a from Zhang, X., Li, F., Cui, Y. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Mst1 overexpression combined with Yap knockdown augments thyroid carcinoma apoptosis via promoting MIEF1-related mitochondrial fission and activating the JNK pathway. Cancer Cell Int 19, 143 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-019-0860-8; Figure 2K from Peng Xu, Guofeng Zhang, Longgui Sha, Shuangxing Hou. RETRACTED: DUSP1 alleviates cerebral ischaemia reperfusion injury via inactivating JNKMff pathways and repressing mitochondrial fission. Life Sciences. 2018; 210:251–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2018.08.049; Figures 4D and 5A from Yudong Xie, Yanping Lv, Yanli Zhang, Zhenzhen Liang, Lili Han, Yiyang Xie. LATS2 promotes apoptosis in non-small cell lung cancer A549 cells via triggering Mff-dependent mitochondrial fission and activating the JNK signaling pathway. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2019;109:679–689. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.10.097 and Figure 6A from Yao S, Yan W. Overexpression of Mst1 reduces gastric cancer cell viability by repressing the AMPK-Sirt3 pathway and activating mitochondrial fission. Onco Targets Ther. 2018;11:8465–8479. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S180851.
• Images for Figure 5D have been duplicated with images for Figure 2a from Wan, J., Cui, J., Wang, L. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Excessive mitochondrial fragmentation triggered by erlotinib promotes pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cell apoptosis via activating the mROS-HtrA2/Omi pathways. Cancer Cell Int 18, 165 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12935-018-0665-1; Figure 6F from Jixuan Liu, Wei Yan, Xiaojing Zhao, Qian Jia, Jinda Wang, Huawei Zhang, Chunlei Liu, Kunlun He, Zhijun Sun. Sirt3 attenuates post-infarction cardiac injury via inhibiting mitochondrial fission and normalization of AMPK-Drp1 pathways. Cellular Signalling. 2019;53:1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cellsig.2018.09.009 and Figure 7D from Jun Qian, Dong Fang, Hong Lu, Yi Cao, Ji Zhang, Rong Ding, Lingchang Li, Jiege Huo. Tanshinone IIA promotes IL2-mediated SW480 colorectal cancer cell apoptosis by triggering INF2-related mitochondrial fission and activating the Mst1-Hippo pathway. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2018; 108:1658–1669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2018.09.170.

The authors did not respond to our queries and were unable to provide an explanation for the duplicated images or provide data for the study. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article and the authors were notified of this.

We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and COPE guidelines.

The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.