After publication of this article [1], concerns were raised about the following figure panels:
- Fig 4: The Claudin-5 and Merged images shown for VEGF A (24 hr) appear to duplicate the panels representing PlGF-1 6hr after VEGF A (24 hr).
- Fig 7e: There appear to be vertical discontinuities before lanes 2, 3 and 5 of the Anti-VE-cadherin Y731 (Membrane) immunoblot.
- Fig 8a: In the VE-Cadherin blot, there are background discrepancies in lanes 1–10 versus lanes 11–13, and it appears there may be a vertical discontinuity between lanes 11 and 12.
- Similarities were noted between Fig 8a of this article [1] and Fig 2 of a J. Biol Chem. article [2]. PLOS ONE Fig 8a alpha Tubulin lanes 2–7 appear similar to J. Biol Chem. Fig 2a alpha-Tubulin lanes 1–6 in the opposite orientation; and PLOS ONE Fig 8a alpha Tubulin lanes 8–13 appear similar to J. Biol Chem. Fig 2c VEGFR-1 lanes 1–6 in the opposite orientation.
- Fig 9b: A vertical discontinuity was noted between lanes 5 and 6 of the Occludin blot. In addition, differences in band patterns between the Occludin and a-Tubulin data call into question whether they were obtained using the same blot.
The authors noted that an incorrect representative confocal microscopy image was used in Fig 4 and they provided a replacement image for the VEGF A 24hr panel. The authors also provided further raw data underlying Fig 7, 8 and 9. The authors explained that blots provided for Fig 7 are representative of several repeated experiments, but these were not used in the quantification of bands which were performed on the raw blot images the authors provided post-publication. The images provided for Figs 8 and 9 were not sufficient to resolve all of the image concerns outlined above.
The authors acknowledged the similarity between Fig 8 of the PLOS ONE article [1] and Fig 2 of the J. Biol Chem article [2] but are unable to explain how this may have occurred.
In light of these overall concerns, which call into question the reliability of the published data, the PLOS ONE Editors retract this article.
XQ, LS, SLC, DA, AA, MBG, MEB agreed with the retraction. LW, SC, WGJ did not respond. JC did not agree with retraction. SAV is deceased.
References
- 1. Cai J, Wu L, Qi X, Shaw L, Li Calzi S, Caballero S, et al. (2011) Placenta Growth Factor-1 Exerts Time-Dependent Stabilization of Adherens Junctions Following VEGF-Induced Vascular Permeability. PLoS ONE 6(3): e18076. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0018076 pmid:21464949
- 2. Cai J, Jiang WG, Grant MB, Boulton M. Pigment Epithelium-derived Factor Inhibits Angiogenesis via Regulated Intracellular Proteolysis of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 1. J Biol Chem. 2006;281:3604–3613. pmid:16339148
Citation: The PLOS ONE Editors (2019) Retraction: Placenta Growth Factor-1 Exerts Time-Dependent Stabilization of Adherens Junctions Following VEGF-Induced Vascular Permeability. PLoS ONE 14(1): e0210983. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210983
Published: January 16, 2019
Copyright: © 2019 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.