Retraction: "Mesoglycan exerts its fibrinolytic effect through the activation of annexin A2".

Abstract

Retraction: "Mesoglycan exerts its fibrinolytic effect through the activation of annexin A2" by Raffaella Belvedere, Elva Morretta, Emanuela Pessolano, Nunzia Novizio, Alessandra Tosco, Amalia Porta, James Whiteford, Mauro Perretti, Amelia Filippelli, Maria Chiara Monti, Antonello Petrella, J Cell Physiol. 2020, 236: 4926-4943. The above article, published online on 7 December 2020 in Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jcp.30207) has been retracted by agreement between the journal's Editor in Chief, Alexander Hutchison, and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The retraction has been agreed due to concerns raised by third parties. Some flaws and inconsistencies between results presented and experimental methods described were found. Specifically, manipulations have been detected affecting the Western Blot experiment presented in Figure 3a, and the microscopy images presented in Figure 5 and Figure S7. The corresponding author, Antonello Petrella, acknowledged not having noticed the anomalies at earlier stages and collaborated with the investigation. The original experimental data related to the concerns identified were no longer available; the authors have performed new Western Blot experiments. However, based on the editorial evaluation, the provided material failed to adequately address the concerns. For instance, the data intended to replicate the findings in Figure 3a were provided at a quality too low to ensure its accuracy. Furthermore, the concerns regarding the manipulation of microscopy images in Figure 5 and Figure S7 remained entirely unaddressed. Accordingly, the editors no longer have confidence in the integrity of the data presented in the article and consider the conclusions to be invalid. Antonello Petrella, on behalf of all authors, believes that the conclusions of the article are not affected by the identified issues, in part also corroborated by the new data; all authors disagree with the decision to retract the article.