The antibacterial effect of human adipose-derived stem cells on LL-37-resistant bacteria

Parisa Afzal Haghjoo; Ali Mojtahedi; Malek Moien Ansar; Malek Masoud Ansar; Safieh Danesh Mobarhan

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0333647

Peer Review History

Original SubmissionJuly 4, 2025
7 Aug 2025 Decision Letter - Christian Agyare, Editor PONE-D-25-35482The antibacterial effect of human adipose-derived stem cells on LL-37-resistant bacteriaPLOS ONE Dear Dr. Ansar, Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Please submit your revised manuscript by Sep 21 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file. 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The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf 2. If the reviewer comments include a recommendation to cite specific previously published works, please review and evaluate these publications to determine whether they are relevant and should be cited. There is no requirement to cite these works unless the editor has indicated otherwise. 3. Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice. Additional Editor Comments: Please act and respond to the reviewers comments and submit the revised version for our consideration [Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.] Reviewers' comments: Reviewer's Responses to Questions Comments to the Author 1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions? The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ******** 2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ****** 3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available? The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ****** 4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English? PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here. Reviewer #1: Yes Reviewer #2: Yes ****** 5. Review Comments to the Author Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters) Reviewer #1: Greetings Good work Minor points: 1- In this study: You wrote (We 7 times and Our 9 times!). The rule of scientific manuscripts’ writing is: it is preferred to avoid using the pronouns (We and Our). So you should delete (We and Our), kindly use the formal scientific words (This study or The current study or The present study). 2- kindly you should write all the scientific names of bacteria by italic style line. 3- The abbreviations in this manuscript are too much, so I suggest to add table of abbreviations at the end of this manuscript to be easy for understanding by the students or the readers. Kind regards Reviewer #2: Overall english language and the scientific approach used in this study are good. However, there are some points needs to be ammended or answered. especially, The abstract needs to be rephrased to increase clarity for readers and some statements needs more supportive referencing in discussion session. I've attched my notes on the original pdf. Regards ****** 6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files. If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public. Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy . Reviewer #1: No Reviewer #2: No ******** [NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files.] While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step. Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: PONE-D-25-35482_reviewer.pdf https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333647.r001
Revision 1
13 Sep 2025 Author Response Response to Editor and Reviewers’ Comments Dear Editor and Reviewers, We sincerely appreciate the time and effort you have dedicated to reviewing our manuscript. We have thoroughly addressed all comments and suggestions to improve the clarity, rigor, and compliance of our work with PLOS ONE guidelines. Below is our point-by-point response to each comment, along with a summary of specific changes made in the revised manuscript. Response to Editor’s Comments Manuscript Formatting and Style We carefully reviewed and reformatted the manuscript in accordance with the official PLOS ONE style requirements for the main text, title page, authors, and affiliations. This included file naming, section headings, consistent font sizes, and reference style to fully comply with journal requirements. Citation of Suggested Publications We thank the reviewers for suggesting that additional references be added in specific section to support certain statements. Although no particular publications were recommended, we carefully reviewed the manuscript and inserted relevant citations where appropriate to strengthen the discussion. Reference List Accuracy and Retraction Status We have conducted a thorough review of our reference list and, to the best of our knowledge, none of the cited articles have been retracted. DOIs for two references were verified, corrected, and formatted according to PLOS ONE style. Figures and PACE Tool Usage All figures were prepared according to PLOS ONE guidelines using the PACE (PLOS Article Content Editing) tool to ensure correct resolution, dimensions, and font embedding. Figures were uploaded separately as required, improving quality and compliance. Response to Reviewer 1 Comments Use of Pronouns We revised the manuscript to minimize use of personal pronouns such as “We” and “Our.” Formal alternatives such as “This study,” “The present study,” or “The current study” is now used consistently. Italicization of Scientific Names All scientific names of bacterial species have been updated and italicized throughout the manuscript, consistent with taxonomic convention (e.g., P. aeruginosa, P. mirabilis). Abbreviation Table The abbreviation table was added based on Reviewer 1’s suggestion to aid reader comprehension. While PLOS ONE guidelines do not explicitly require such a table, we included it to address the reviewer’s helpful recommendation. Response to Reviewer 2 Comments Rephrasing: The indicated sentence was rephrased to improve clarity and flow. Clarification of the compound: We added the phrase “a natural human antimicrobial peptide important in the immune defense” and the sentence “Some bacteria have evolved mechanisms to evade the antimicrobial effects of LL-37” to clearly identify and explain the compound. “Identified by” or “Differentiated by”: We selected the term “identified by” to convey a precise and unambiguous description of the methods used. Clarification of groups and stimulation: We have added the sentence: “Divided into three groups: unstimulated, stimulated with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ; 100 ng/mL), or Escherichia coli (E. coli; 300 CFU),” and inserted “in the E. coli-stimulated group” in the appropriate section to clarify group distinctions. Clarification of “IDT”: “Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT)” has been introduced upon first mention. Font size issue: The font size in the Statistical analysis subsection of the Methods was increased to 12 pt for clarity and consistency with journal standards. References missing or insufficient: References 12, 13, and 14 were added where needed to provide appropriate support. Italicization of species names and formatting adjustments: Species names were corrected to italic font (e.g., P. aeruginosa [5 cases], P. mirabilis [4 cases]). The “Discussion” heading was reformatted in bold with an18-pt font size to match PLOS One style. If any additional modifications or clarifications are needed, we will be pleased to respond promptly. We thank the Editor and Reviewers once again for their valuable feedback and hope that the revised manuscript meets the standards for publication. Respectfully, Dr Malek Moien Ansar Attachments Attachment Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.docx https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333647.r002
17 Sep 2025 Decision Letter - Christian Agyare, Editor The antibacterial effect of human adipose-derived stem cells on LL-37-resistant bacteria PONE-D-25-35482R1 Dear Dr. Ansar, We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements. Within one week, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing the required amendments. When these have been addressed, you’ll receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will be scheduled for publication. An invoice will be generated when your article is formally accepted. Please note, if your institution has a publishing partnership with PLOS and your article meets the relevant criteria, all or part of your publication costs will be covered. Please make sure your user information is up-to-date by logging into Editorial Manager at Editorial Manager® and clicking the ‘Update My Information' link at the top of the page. For questions related to billing, please contact billing support . If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to help maximize its impact. If they’ll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team as soon as possible -- no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. Kind regards, Christian Agyare, PhD Academic Editor PLOS ONE Additional Editor Comments (optional): Reviewers' comments: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333647.r003
Formally Accepted
Acceptance Letter - Christian Agyare, Editor PONE-D-25-35482R1 PLOS ONE Dear Dr. Ansar, I'm pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now being handed over to our production team. At this stage, our production department will prepare your paper for publication. This includes ensuring the following: * All references, tables, and figures are properly cited * All relevant supporting information is included in the manuscript submission, * There are no issues that prevent the paper from being properly typeset You will receive further instructions from the production team, including instructions on how to review your proof when it is ready. Please keep in mind that we are working through a large volume of accepted articles, so please give us a few days to review your paper and let you know the next and final steps. Lastly, if your institution or institutions have a press office, please let them know about your upcoming paper now to help maximize its impact. If they'll be preparing press materials, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org. You will receive an invoice from PLOS for your publication fee after your manuscript has reached the completed accept phase. If you receive an email requesting payment before acceptance or for any other service, this may be a phishing scheme. Learn how to identify phishing emails and protect your accounts at https://explore.plos.org/phishing. If we can help with anything else, please email us at customercare@plos.org. Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE and supporting open access. Kind regards, PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff on behalf of Dr. Christian Agyare Academic Editor PLOS ONE https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333647.r004

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