Frontiers in Oncology retracts 2024 sorafenib and tarexib hepatocellular carcinoma paper after authors fail to supply raw data

Frontiers in Oncology has retracted a 2024 research article that reported on sorafenib combined with a drug named tarexib as first-line treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, including its predictive role and correlation with PD-L1 circulating tumor cells. The retraction notice was published on 27 October 2026 in Volume 16 of the journal, in the section covering gastrointestinal cancers, specifically hepato pancreatic biliary cancers.

The retracted paper, authored by Xu L and Che X, was originally published on 2 December 2024 in Frontiers in Oncology, volume 14, under article number 1478596, with the DOI 10.3389/fonc.2024.1478596. The retraction notice itself carries the DOI 10.3389/fonc.2026.2021942 and was issued by the Frontiers Editorial Office.

According to the retraction notice, the journal retracted the article after post-publication review identified multiple errors in drug nomenclature within the paper. The notice gives a specific example: the drug tislelizumab was incorrectly stated in the article as tarexib, tirelizumab and toripalimab. These are distinct names, and the notice indicates that the confusion extended across several different renderings of drug names in the text.

The editorial office did not act on the naming errors alone. The notice states that the editorial office contacted the corresponding author on multiple occasions, each time requesting the raw data underlying the findings reported in the article. The authors did not respond to these requests.

Because the authors did not provide the underlying data, the journal concluded that the validity of the article could not be verified. On that basis, the article has been retracted. The notice frames the failure to verify validity, rather than the naming errors alone, as the decisive ground for the retraction.

The retraction was formally approved by the Chief Editors of Frontiers in Oncology and by the Chief Executive Editor of Frontiers. The retraction notice was received and accepted on 8 October 2026, published on 27 October 2026, and edited and reviewed by Liang Qiao of The University of Sydney, Australia.

The retraction notice also identifies the original article explicitly as a retraction of the original research article, and marks the original title as retracted, directing readers to the original article record. The notice is published as an open-access item under the Creative Commons Attribution License, and correspondence concerning the retraction is directed to the Frontiers Editorial Office at research.integrity@frontiersin.org.

Readers should note that the findings of the retracted article can no longer be considered valid, as the journal states that their validity could not be verified.

The retraction notice includes a standard disclaimer stating that all claims expressed in the article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, the publisher, the editors or the reviewers, and that any product evaluated or claim made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Subject of Research: Retraction of a Frontiers in Oncology article on sorafenib combined with tarexib for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma

Article Title: Retraction: Sorafenib combined with tarexib for first-line treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma and its predictive role and correlation with PD-L1 CTCs

Article References: Frontiers Editorial Office (2026). Retraction: Sorafenib combined with tarexib for first-line treatment of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma and its predictive role and correlation with PD-L1 CTCs. Frontiers in Oncology, 16, Article 2021942. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2026.2021942

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2026.2021942

Keywords: Frontiers in Oncology, retraction, hepatocellular carcinoma, sorafenib, tarexib, tislelizumab, PD-L1, circulating tumor cells, research integrity, editorial office, raw data, drug nomenclature