Antiviral Activity of Chitosan Nanoparticles Encapsulating Curcumin Against Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 4a in Human Hepatoma Cell Lines [Retraction]

Abstract

Loutfy SA, Elberry MH, Farroh KY, et al. Int J Nanomedicine. 2020;15:2699–2715. The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of images in Figure 8. The authors responded to our queries and explained the western blot experiments were performed by a commercial laboratory; however, they were unable to provide all the original data. The data that was provided showed inconstancies between what was considered original western blot data and what was shown in Figure 8. This raised concerns over the reliability and validity of the findings and the Editor requested for the article to be retracted and the authors do not agree with this decision. Our decision-making was informed by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retraction. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”. This retraction relates to this paper

Keywords

• caspase-dependent pathway
• chitosan curcumin nanocomposite
• hepatitis c virus 4a
• huh7
• docking