Concerns have been raised about results reported in Figs 1F and 4C of this article [1]:
In Fig 1F, a cell with aberrant morphology appears to be duplicated within the RBCVL (sensitized) panel, and a cell cluster in this panel appears similar to a cluster in the RBCVL (unsensitized) panel. The RBCVL (sensitized) and RBCVL (unsensitized) panels appear to include several cells and cell clusters that overlap with Fig 3B of [2]. Also, the RBCN (sensitized) panel appears to overlap with data reported in Fig 3A in [2]. The images including similar elements represent different experiments in [1] and [2].
When levels are adjusted to visualize background details, background areas within lanes 1 and 11 of Fig 4C appear more similar than would be expected for independent results, although the bands are different in the two lanes.
The authors commented that an error was made in preparing Fig 1F and they provided alternate data for the RBCN (sensitized) and RBCVL (both) panels. The image offered as a replacement for the RBCVL-sensitized panel included cells with aberrant morphologies that appear similar to cell images in the original figure and in Fig 3B of [2].
The original images supporting results in Fig 4 are no longer available.
The PLOS ONE Editors retract this article due to these unresolved concerns, which call into question the reliability of the results reported in Figs 1F and 4C.
CM did not agree with the retraction. The other authors did not respond or could not be reached.
Additionally, Fig 1F is excluded from this article’s [1] license because it reports material from [2], published 2007 [Elsevier Inc.], which is not offered under a CC-BY license. At the time of retraction, the article [1] was republished to note this exclusion in the Fig 1 legend and the article’s copyright statement.
Reference
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