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Yu G, Ali Z, Sajjad Khan A, et al. Int J Nanomedicine. 2021;16:3255-3273. At the authors request, the Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of images in Figures 9A, 9B and 9C with the same images from a previous article (ud Din et al, 2017 https://doi.org/10.1080/10717544.2016.1272651) by the same authors. Specifically, Figure 9A, Untreated Control, Pure Drug, HePC-NLCs, Normal Saline and all corresponding Tumor mass images appear to have been duplicated with the same images for Figure 6A, Control, Solution, DRTN, and Hydrogel images, respectively, from ud Din et al, 2017. Figure 9B, Pure Drug, Caspas-3; HePC-NLCs, Caspas-3 and Normal Saline, Caspas-3 appear to have been duplicated with the same images from Figure 6C, Solution, Ki-67 and Figure 6B, DRTN, Caspase-3 and Control, Caspase-3, respectively, from ud Din et al, 2017. Figure 9C, Untreated Control, PARP; Pure Drug, PARP; HePC-NLCs, PARP and Normal Saline, PARP appear to have been duplicated with the same images from Figure 6C, Hydrogel, CD31; Figure 6B, Solution, PARP; Figure 6C, Control, CD31 and Figure 6B, Control, PARP, respectively, from ud Din et al, 2017. The authors responded to our queries and agreed with the concerns that had been raised and requested for the retraction of the article. The Editor agreed with this decision and approved the authors retraction request. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.

Guo Yu, 1 Zakir Ali, 2 Anam Sajjad Khan, 2 Kalim Ullah, 3 Humzah Jamshaid, 2 Alam Zeb, 4 Muhammad Imran, 4 Sadia Sarwar, 4 Han-Gon Choi, 5 Fakhar ud Din 2 1Department of Head and Neck Breast, Xinxiang Central Hospital, Xinxiang City, Henan Province, 453000, People’s Republic of China; 2Nanomedicine Research Group, Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan; 3Department of Zoology, Kohat University of Science & Technology, Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan; 4Riphah Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan; 5College of Pharmacy & Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Hanyang University, Ansan, South KoreaCorrespondence: Fakhar ud Din Tel +92 512-90644314Fax +92 512-90644144Email fudin@qau.edu.pkHan-Gon Choi Email hangon@hanyang.ac.krBackground: The purpose of this study was to investigate the suitability of nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) loaded with miltefosine (HePC) as an anticancer drug for the treatment of breast cancer.Methods: HePC-NLCs were prepared using a microemulsion technique and then evaluated for particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), incorporation efficiency, in vitro release of entrapped drug, and hemolytic potential. Furthermore, pharmacokinetic, biodistribution, and liver toxicity analyses were performed in Sprague–Dawley rats, and antitumor efficacy was evaluated in Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) and squamous cell carcinoma-7 (SCC-7) cells in vitro and in tumour-bearing BALB/c mice in vivo. Advanced analyses including survival rate, immunohistopathology, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labelling (TUNEL) assays were performed to evaluate apoptosis in vivo.Results: The average particle size of the HePC-NLCs was 143 ± 16 nm, with a narrow PDI (0.104 ± 0.002), and the incorporation efficiency was found to be 91 ± 7%. The NLCs released HePC in a sustained manner, and this release was significantly lower than that of free drug. The in vitro hemolytic assay demonstrated a significantly reduced hemolytic potential (∼ 9%) of the NLCs compared to that of the test formulations. The HePC-NLCs demonstrated enhanced pharmacokinetic behaviour over free drug, including extended blood circulation and an abridged clearance rate in rats. Furthermore, the HePC-NLCs exhibited higher cytotoxicity than the free drug in MCF-7 and SCC-7 cells. Moreover, the HePC-NLCs showed significantly enhanced (P < 0.005) antitumor activity compared to that of the control and free drug-treated mouse groups. Tumour cell apoptosis was also confirmed, indicating the antitumor potential of the HePC-NLCs.Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the ability of NLCs as a drug delivery system for enhanced pharmacokinetic, antitumor, and apoptotic effects, most importantly when loaded with HePC.Keywords: breast cancer, miltefosine, nano lipid carriers, bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, antitumor efficacy