Retraction: Causation of cigarette smoke-induced emphysema by p-benzoquinone and its prevention by Vitamin C (American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology (2015) 52 (315-322) DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2013-0545OC)

The authors of the March 2015 article by Ghosh and colleagues (1) were notified by the AJRCMB that concerns in the figures in their paper had been identified. Specifically, evidence of duplication was identified in Figures 1, 2A, 3, 5C, and 5D. The senior author (I.B.C.) is deceased and the Journal was informed that he was in sole possession of the original data for the paper. The newly designated corresponding author (A.G.) informed the Journal that the original files could not be accessed; hence, the authors were unable to refute these concerns. They presume that their mishandling of the multi-layered image files and mislabeling of histological sections caused these issues. As these issues undermine confidence in the data, the decision was made to retract the paper. Drs. Ghosh and Chattopadhyay have agreed to this decision (the Journal has been unable to contact or has received no response from Drs. Ganguly, Dey, Banerjee, and Das); they apologize to the Journal and its readers.