Abstract
Following the publication of this paper, the authors alerted the Editorial Office to the fact that a reader had informed them that miR‑152 overexpression did not affect cell apoptosis and cell cycle. The authors subsequently confirmed that they were unable to obtain consistent results from these experiments.Furthermore, an independent investigation of this paper revealed that the cell apoptotic data shown in Fig. 2D were strikingly similar to those that had appeared in an article published previously with different authors, although one of the institutions was held in common. The authors have requested that the above article be retracted from the publication, and the Editor agrees with this course of action. The Editor apologizes to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [the original article was published in International Journal of Molecular Medicine 42: 643‑650, 2018; DOI: 10.3892/ijmm.2018.3636].