Retraction Note: Stem Cell Research & Therapy (2018) 9:20 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13287-017-0745-5

The Editors-in-Chief have retracted this article at the authors' request. After publication, concerns were raised regarding partial overlap between Figs. 2 and 5–7 in this article and Figs. 1 and 3–5, respectively, in an article by some of the same authors that was submitted and published within a close time frame [1]. The authors have confirmed that some incorrect images had been used in Figs. 5 and 6. The authors have repeated the H&E and immunohistochemistry experiments to address these concerns, but were unable to retrieve the original western blot data. The Editors-in-Chief therefore no longer have confidence in the data presented here.

All authors agree to this retraction.