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Open Access

Retraction

Retraction: Casticin potentiates TRAIL-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer cells through endoplasmic reticulum stress

  • The PLOS One Editors

After this article [1] was published, concerns were raised regarding results presented in Figs 2 and 4-7.

Specifically:

  • In the Fig 2H PARP panel, when contrast levels are adjusted, there appear to be regions surrounding lanes 1, 2, 4, and 5 where the background does not match the overall background of the panel.
  • The following results appear similar despite representing different experimental results:
    1. ◦ Fig 4A DR4 panel lane 3 and lane 4.
    2. ◦ Fig 5B DR5 panel lane 3 and lane 5.
    3. ◦ Fig 6A DR4 panel lanes 2-3 and lanes 4-5.
  • The following panels appear similar despite representing different experimental results:
    1. ◦ Fig 6C CHOP panel in [1] and Fig 4D GADD153 panel in [2].
    2. ◦ Fig 6C DR4 panel in [1] and Fig 4B β-actin panel in [2].
    3. ◦ Fig 7C DR5 panel in [1] and Fig 7B DR5 panel in [3], retracted in [4].
    4. ◦ Fig 7C CHOP panel in [1] and Fig 7B CHOP panel in [3,4].
    5. ◦ Fig 7C β–actin panel in [1] and Fig 7B β–actin panel in [3,4].
  • There appear to be one or more vertical discontinuities in the following panels in [1]:
    1. ◦ Fig 5B β-actin panel.
    2. ◦ Fig 6A GRP78 panel.
    3. ◦ Fig 6A DR4 panel.

The authors did not respond to editorial requests for a response and underlying data.

After publication of [1], the BGC-823, SGC-7901, and MGC-803 cell lines reported in [1] were identified as contaminated cell lines and are potential derivatives of HeLa [5–8].

In light of the above unresolved concerns, which undermine the reliability of the reported results and conclusions, the PLOS One Editors retract this article.

All authors either did not respond directly or could not be reached.

References

  1. 1. Zhou Y, Tian L, Long L, Quan M, Liu F, Cao J. Casticin potentiates TRAIL-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer cells through endoplasmic reticulum stress. PLoS One. 2013;8(3): e58855. pmid:23536831
  2. 2. Chiu S-C, Chen S-P, Huang S-Y, Wang M-J, Lin S-Z, Harn H-J, et al. Induction of apoptosis coupled to endoplasmic reticulum stress in human prostate cancer cells by n-butylidenephthalide. PLoS One. 2012;7(3): e33742. pmid:22470469
  3. 3. Sung B, Ravindran J, Prasad S, Pandey MK, Aggarwal BB. Gossypol induces death receptor-5 through activation of the ROS-ERK-CHOP pathway and sensitizes colon cancer cells to TRAIL. J Biol Chem. 2010;285(46): 35418–27. pmid:20837473
  4. 4. Sung B, Ravindran J, Prasad S, Pandey MK, Aggarwal BB. Gossypol induces death receptor-5 through activation of ROS-ERK-CHOP pathway and sensitizes colon cancer cells to TRAIL. J Biol Chem. 2016;291(32): 16923. pmid:27496964
  5. 5. Ye F, Chen C, Qin J, Liu J, Zheng C. Genetic profiling reveals an alarming rate of cross-contamination among human cell lines used in China. FASEB J. 2015;29(10): 4268–72. pmid:26116706
  6. 6. Bian X, Yang Z, Feng H, Sun H, Liu Y. A Combination of species identification and STR profiling identifies cross-contaminated cells from 482 human tumor cell lines. Sci Rep. 2017;7(1):9774. pmid:28851942
  7. 7. Cao F, Sun H, Yang Z, Bai Y, Hu X, Hou Y, et al. Multiple approaches revealed MGc80-3 as a somatic hybrid with HeLa cells rather than a gastric cancer cell line. Int J Cancer. 2024;154(1): 155–68. pmid:37543987
  8. 8. Yang M, He J, Xia S, Wang Y, Xiong J, Liao C, et al. Investigation of the mixed origins of the MGC-803 cell line reveals that it is a hybrid cell line derived from HeLa. Hum Cell. 2024;37(2): 560–6. pmid:38079103

Citation: The PLOS One Editors (2025) Retraction: Casticin potentiates TRAIL-induced apoptosis of gastric cancer cells through endoplasmic reticulum stress. PLoS ONE 20(4): e0322907. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322907

Published: April 15, 2025

Copyright: © 2025 The PLOS One Editors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.