{"paper_id":"b3a237d2-b9cf-4bc8-93b6-b664336615c8","body_text":"Abstract\nPurpose\nThe present work aimed to explore the aberrant expression of APEX1 in endometrial stromal cells (ESC) and the underlying mechanisms.\nMethods\nThe levels of APEX1 and miR-24 in endometriosis tissues were tested by qRT-PCR and Western blot. After cell transfection, cells were correspondingly classified into pcDNA3.1-NC, sh-NC, mimic NC, inhibitor NC, pcDNA3.1-APEX1, sh-APEX1, miR-24 mimic, miR-24 inhibitor, sh-NC + inhibitor NC, inhibitor-NC + sh-APEX1, sh-NC + miR-24 inhibitor, pcDNA3.1-NC + mimic NC, mimic NC + pcDNA3.1-APEX1 and pcDNA3.1-NC + miR-24 mimic group. Besides, cell proliferation, apoptosis in addition to apoptosis-related proteins Bax, Bcl-2 and cleaved-casase-3 were analyzed by BrdU assay, flow cytometry (FCM) and Western blot assays, respectively. Additionally, RIP assay was conducted to determine the interaction between pri-miR-24 and miR-24.\nResults\nAPEX1 and miR-24 were highly expressed in endometriosis tissues. Overexpression of APEX1 and miR-24 potentiates ESC proliferation and inhibits apoptosis, while those effects could be reversed by APEX1 and miR-24 silencing. Meanwhile, APEX1 and miR-24 could elevate ESC apoptosis-related proteins Bax and cleaved-caspase-3 and decrease Bcl-2 expression. Importantly, APEX1 was positively correlated with miR-24 expression.\nConclusion\nAPEX1 promotes ESC proliferation and inhibits apoptosis by upregulating miR-24 expression.\nSimilar content being viewed by others\nData availability\nThe datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.\nChange history\n13 February 2026\nThis article has been retracted. 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Med Sci Monit 22:1953–1958. https://doi.org/10.12659/msm.899179\nFunding\nThanks for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81801421).\nAuthor information\nAuthors and Affiliations\nContributions\nALT: protocol/project development; data collection or management; manuscript writing/editing. PR: data collection or management; data analysis; supervision. PXS: data analysis; manuscript writing/editing.\nCorresponding author\nEthics declarations\nConflict of interest\nThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.\nEthics approval\nAll participants signed written informed consents and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committees of the Wuhan University Renmin Hospital.\nConsent to participate\nAll participants signed written informed consents and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committees of the Wuhan University Renmin Hospital.\nAdditional information\nPublisher's Note\nSpringer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.\nThis article has been retracted. Please see the retraction notice for more detail: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-026-08363-w\nRights and permissions\nSpringer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.\nAbout this article\nCite this article\nTan, A., Ruan, P. & Sun, P. RETRACTED ARTICLE: APEX1/miR-24 axis: a promising therapeutic target in endometriosis. Arch Gynecol Obstet 304, 131–141 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-021-05963-6\nReceived:\nAccepted:\nPublished:\nVersion of record:\nIssue date:\nDOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-021-05963-6","source_license":"public-domain-us","license_restricted":false}