International Journal of Nanomedicine (Mar 2023)
In situ Injection of pH- and Temperature-Sensitive Nanomaterials Increases Chemo-Photothermal Efficacy by Alleviating the Tumor Immunosuppressive Microenvironment [Retraction]
Abstract
Liu J, Guo L, Rao Y, et al. Int J Nanomedicine. 2022;17:2661–2678. The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the duplication of mice images in Figure 4A and H&E images in Figure 9A. Specifically, The images for Figure 4A, MNs-PEG/IR780-DOX+MF, 6h and 24h appear to be duplicates of each other. The images for Figure 4A, MNs-PEG/IR780-DOX, 1h and 3h appear to be duplicates of each other. The images for Figure 9A, Liver, 1 (PBS) and 5 (MNs-PEG/IR780-DOX+L) appear to have overlapping regions. The images for Figure 9A, Spleen, 1 (PBS), 3 (MNs-PEG/IR780-DOX) and 6 (MNs-PEG/IR780-DOX+MF+L) appear to have overlapping regions. The authors were cooperative and provided some of the original data that was requested. However, the authors explained that the 6h data shown in Figure 4 did not exist and asked to remove it. The Editor questioned how non-existent data came to be used and was concerned that this issue was only being raised post-publication. The authors explanation regarding this did not clearly explain how the error was made. Overall, in combination with the alleged image duplication and addition of non-existent data, the Editor expressed their overall concerns relating to the integrity and reliability of the findings and requested for the article to be retracted. The authors were notified and agreed with this decision. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.
