We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, have retracted the following article:
Ying Li, Su Xu, Qingqing Xu & Yijian Chen (2020) Clostridium difficile toxin B induces colonic inflammation through the TRIM46/DUSP1/MAPKs and NF-κB signalling pathway, Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 48:1, 452-462, DOI: 10.1080/21691401.2019.1709856
Since publication, concerns have been raised about the integrity of the data in the article. In particular, Figures 4A and 7B appear to have been previously published in other journals with different author lists, specifically:
Figure 4A appears to have been duplicated in part with Figure 3A, Liu et al., Frontiers in Oncology (2020), DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.00865
Figure 4A appears to have been duplicated in part with Figure 2B, Miao et al., Oncology Research Featuring Preclinical and Clinical Cancer Therapeutics (2016), DOI: 10.3727/096504016X14685034103671
Figure 4A appears to have been duplicated in part with Figure 6B, Guo et al., Scientific Reports (2017), DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01832-y
Figure 7B appears to have been duplicated in part with Figure 2B, Guo et al., Scientific Reports (2017), DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-01832-y
Figure 7B appears to have been duplicated in part with Figure 2B, Lv et al., Oncotarget (2017), DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.17084
Figure 7B appears to have been duplicated in part with Figure 6C, Zhu et al., Nutrition & Metabolism (2019), DOI: 10.1186/s12986-019-0375-2
When approached for an explanation, the authors provided their original data as requested, but have been unable to provide an explanation for the duplication outlined above. Therefore, the Editor and Publisher have agreed to retract the article to ensure correction of the scholarly record. The authors have been informed and do not agree with the decision to retract.
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The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.