Following the publication of the above paper, a concerned reader drew to the Editor's attention that certain discrete western blot data shown in the RT‑qPCR blots in Figs. 1A and 2A, and western blot data in Fig. 5 were strikingly similar to data that had already appeared in previously published papers in different journals written by different authors at different research institutes. Furthermore, some of the protein bands featured in the western blots in Figs. 1C, 2C and 4 were strikingly similar to other bands within the same figures, suggesting that the figures in question may have undergone inappropriate editing. Having considered the issues identified, the Editor of