Radiosensitivity Enhancement by Combined Treatment of Nimotuzumab and Celecoxib on Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells [Retraction]

Huang JF, Yuan XP, Pang QF, et al. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2018;12:2223—2231. https://doi.org/10.2147/DDDT.S163595 We, the Editors and Publisher of the journal, Drug Design, Development and Therapy, have retracted the published article. After publication, concerns have been raised by a third party in 2025 about the integrity of the data in Figure 3 of the article. Further investigation conducted by the Journal and Publisher confirmed unusual similarities between the image panels representative of different treatment conditions in Figure 3D. Additional concerns were identified in Figures 5A and 6A due to unexpected similarities in the Western blot bands that are representative of different experimental conditions. When approached for an explanation, the authors did not respond to the queries raised by the Journal and Publisher. As verifying the validity of published work is core to the integrity of the scholarly record, we are therefore retracting the article. The corresponding author listed in this publication has been informed. We have been informed in our decision-making by our editorial policies and the COPE guidelines. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as ‘Retracted’.