Retraction note to: Digestive Diseases and Sciences (2019) 65:509–523 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-019-05798-x


The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article. After publication, concerns were raised regarding the images presented in the figures, specifically:

  • Figures 1a and 2a appear to share a loading control with different exposure, and some of the bands in these images appear to originate from the same gel as Figs. 3a and 5a, flipped horizontally.

  • Some cells appear to be duplicated in Figs. 2e and 12h.

  • Figure 2f Normal and CAd 12 h images appear highly similar (with rotation and different brightness/contrast).

  • Figure 3a beta-actin blot appears highly similar to Fig. 5a, shifted by one lane to represent different treatment groups.

  • Figures 3c and 4a beta-actin bands appear highly similar, with a difference in lane 2.

  • Figure 4a SQSTM1/p62 lanes 2 and 3 appear highly similar

  • Figure 5c actin lanes 2 and 3 appear highly similar, with a vertical line artifact between them.

  • Figure 6a actin appears highly similar to that in Fig. 5c.

  • Figure 6d Normal and Ad+3MA images appear highly similar, with different brightness and scaling.

  • Figure 6f Normal and Ad+3MA images appear to overlap.

  • Figures 7a and 8a appear to share the same beta-actin; lanes 1 and 2 appear highly similar in both figures.

  • A number of other western blots across the figures appear to have unusual features surrounding the bands, vertical line artifacts in the backgrounds, and duplicated patterns under the bands.

The Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the presented data.

All authors agree to this retraction.