Retraction to: Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8353, published online 2 July 2015

The Editors have retracted this article. After publication, concerns were raised regarding image overlap in Fig. 7a, which the authors addressed by a Correction1. However, further concerns were subsequently identified:

  • Fig. 2a CNE-1 Mock and Fig. 2c 5-8F-BART1 in-b1-5p images appear to overlap.

  • Fig. 6b 5-8F-BART1 PTEN image appears to overlap with Fig. 7a in-NC (and the corresponding image in the Correction [1] Supplementary Fig. 1);

  • Fig. 7b in-b1-3p image appears to overlap with the corrected Fig. 7a in-b1-3p (and the corresponding image in the Correction [1] Supplementary Fig. 1);

  • In the full western blot images in Fig. S9, Fig. 4a CNE1 p-ERK1/2 and Fig. 4b CNE1 p-Akt blots appear to share the same background, although the marker size is labelled differently.

  • Correction [1] Supplementary Fig. 1 in-NC set 2 and 3 images appear to overlap;

  • The CNE1, 5-8F and HONE1 cell lines used in this study have been reported to be contaminated with HeLa cervical cancer cells.

The Editors therefore no longer have confidence in the presented data and the conclusions of this article.

Xin Li has stated on behalf of all authors that they agree with this retraction.