IR-Enhanced Photothermal Therapeutic Effect of Graphene Magnetite Nanocomposite on Human Liver Cancer HepG2 Cell Model [Retraction]

Salaheldin TA, Loutfy SA, Ramadan MA, Youssef T, Mousa SA. Int J Nanomedicine. 2019;14:4397–4412. The Editor and Publisher of International Journal of Nanomedicine wish to retract the published article. Concerns were raised regarding the alleged duplication of TEM images in Figure 7A and 7C. In addition, it also appears that parts of the gel electrophoresis image shown in Figure S2 was published previously in Figure 6 from an article in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention (Loutfy et al, 2017 ‘Synthesis, Characterization and Cytotoxic Evaluation of Graphene Oxide Nanosheets: In Vitro Liver Cancer Model’ 10.22034/APJCP.2017.18.4.955). Both gel electrophoresis images describe lanes representing different experimental conditions. The authors responded to our queries but were unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the alleged duplication, nor were they able to provide adequate original data that could verify the reported findings. The Editor requested to retract the article and the authors were notified of this. 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 The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as “Retracted”.