After this article [1] was published, concerns were raised regarding the statistical analyses and interpretation of the results. Specifically:

• Figs 1A, 2, 3A, 5 and 7A show statistical significance markers for all conditions including for the control group, despite the control group acting as the comparator for the other treatment conditions.
• The Statistical analysis subsection of the Materials and methods section and the description of the statistical tests in the figure legends lack sufficient detail for replication.
• The article presents statements and conclusions that are not supported by the results, including:
  • The expression of HSPs was greater in paracetamol-treated cells than in heat shock-treated cells.
  • Cells treated with paracetamol at concentrations above 0.5 mM showed a significant decrease in cell viability after 24 hours.
  • Heat shock treatment decreased cell viability after 24 hours.

The corresponding author stated that they agreed with the above concerns for the statistical analyses. During post-publication correspondence, they provided multiple statistical re-analyses for all graphs in [1]. A member of the PLOS One Editorial Board reviewed the author’s responses and repeated statistical analyses, and stated that these did not resolve the concerns raised for the statistical methods and that the re-analyses raised additional concerns for the reliability of the results reported.

Following editorial assessment, the PLOS One Editors concluded that the article does not meet the journal’s third and fourth criteria for publication [2]. In light of the above concerns, which call into question the validity and reliability of the published results, the PLOS One Editors retract this article.

All authors agreed with the retraction and apologize for the issues with the published article.