Retraction: Mechanisms of adipocyte regulation: Insights from <i>HADHB</i> gene modulation

Following the publication of this article [1], concerns have been raised about Fig 1. Specifically:
- The Fig 1C Control panel of this article [1] appears similar to the Fig 3E panel of [2] when rotated, despite being used to represent different experimental conditions.
- When rotated, the Fig 1C si-HADHB panel in [1] appears similar to the left panel of Fig 6A in [3] and the Fig 5B Ad-GFP 0d panel in [4], despite being used to represent different experimental conditions.
The authors did not respond to the journal’s queries about these concerns. In light of the above unresolved concerns that question the reliability and integrity of the reported results, the PLOS One Editors retract this article.
All authors either did not respond directly or could not be reached.
References
- 1. Yang C, Wang S, Qi Y, Jin Y, Guan R, Huang Z. RETRACTED: Mechanisms of adipocyte regulation: Insights from HADHB gene modulation. PLoS One. 2025;20(3):e0319384. pmid:40146690
- 2. Feng X, Zhao J, Li F, Aloufi BH, Alshammari AM, Ma Y. Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis Revealed That CircMARK3 Is a Potential CircRNA Affects Fat Deposition in Buffalo. Front Vet Sci. 2022;9:946447. pmid:35873681
- 3. Wang S, Pan C, Ma X, Yang C, Tang L, Huang J, et al. Identification and Functional Verification Reveals that miR-195 Inhibiting THRSP to Affect Fat Deposition in Xinyang Buffalo. Front Genet. 2021;12:736441. pmid:35003205
- 4. Huang J, Zheng Q, Wang S, Wei X, Li F, Ma Y. High-Throughput RNA Sequencing Reveals NDUFC2-AS lncRNA Promotes Adipogenic Differentiation in Chinese Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis L). Genes (Basel). 2019;10(9):689. pmid:31500202
Citation: The PLOS One Editors (2026) Retraction: Mechanisms of adipocyte regulation: Insights from HADHB gene modulation. PLoS One 21(7): e0353719. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0353719
Published: July 14, 2026
Copyright: © 2026 The PLOS One Editors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.