Role of Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in the Radiation Tolerance of Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: An in vivo and in vitro Study [Retraction]

Wang T, Hu P, Li B, Zhang J, Cheng Y, Liang Y. Onco Targets Ther. 2017;10:1809–1819. At the request of the authors, the Editors and Publisher of OncoTargets and Therapy wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of tumor images in Figure 5 with similar images from unrelated articles. Specifically, Several images from Figure 5A, rows Untreated, RT and RT + Nrf2 siRNA appear to have been duplicated with similar images from Figure 2B, Wang et al (2017) Oncotarget (https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.22151), Figure 6D, Wu et al (2019) SSRN Electronic Journal (doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3377520) and Figure 12B, Zhang et al (2017) Oncotarget (https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.21167). The authors were unable to explain how the images came to be duplicated in other articles, nor were they able to provide any original data for their study. The Editor agreed with their request to retract the article. 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 The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”