Retraction: MiR-520f promotes cell aggressiveness by regulating fibroblast growth factor 16 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Feng Feng Xu^1,*, Wen Feng Xie^2,*, Guo Qing Zha³, Hong Wu Chen⁴, Liang Deng⁵

¹ Department II of General Surgery, The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510700, China
² Department of Intensive Care Unit, The Eastern Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510700, China
³ Upper Limb Department of Orthopedics, The Eastern Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510700, China
⁴ Department of Emergency, The Eastern Hospital of the First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510700, China
⁵ Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Seventh Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
^* These authors have contributed equally to this work

Published: December 31, 2025

This article has been retracted: Oncotarget has completed its investigation of this paper. Image forensic analysis confirmed that panel J of Figure 2 duplicates panel G of Figure 5, and that panel G of Figure 5 duplicates panel E of Figure 7. In addition, Figure 4C was found to duplicate Figure 5E in reference [1]. The authors agreed that the article should be retracted, although the journal has not received a formal retraction statement from them.

REFERENCES

1. Li N, Cui T, Guo W, Wang D, Mao L. MiR-155-5p accelerates the metastasis of cervical cancer cell via targeting TP53INP1. Onco Targets Ther. 2019; 12:3181–96. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S193097.. [PubMed].

Original article: Oncotarget. 2017; 8:109546–109558. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.22726.