The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article at the Corresponding Author's request. After publication, concerns were raised regarding the western blot images presented in the figures. Specifically:
-
Figure 1a beta-actin bands appear highly similar to Fig. 5b in the corresponding author's earlier article [
1].
Figure 7d pSer167-ER-alpha blot appears highly similar to the MCF:2A BCL-2 blot in Fig. 4a in the authors' earlier article [
2].
-
Figure 2b pER-Ser118 blot appears to contain an “invisible” band in lane 3.
-
Figure 3b PEDF blot appears to have a vertical straight line break in the backgrounds between lanes 2 and 3.
-
Figure 4a PEDF lanes 2 and 3 appear highly similar to p70S6K lanes 1 and 2, respectively.
-
Figure 7d pAKT blot appears highly similar to Fig. 4d mitochondria Cyt c in [
2].
Figure 6d PBS and rPEDF images appear highly similar to Fig. 6d BSO and E2, respectively, in [
2].
The Corresponding Author has stated that some of the blots from their other projects were mistakenly used in this article. The Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the presented data.
The authors have been offered to submit a revised manuscript with the correct data for further peer review.
Min Huang and Joan Lewis-Wambi agree to this retraction. The publisher has not been able to obtain a current email address for Rifat Jan.
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