Editorial Note: Bradykinin B2 Receptors of Dendritic Cells, Acting as Sensors of Kinins Proteolytically Released by Trypanosoma cruzi, Are Critical for the Development of Protective Type-1 Responses

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Concerns have been raised about two FACS panels in Figure 5 of this article [1]. Specifically, the top right and bottom right Heart 28 d pi. B_2_R^-/-^ panels (CD44/IFN-γ) appear highly similar although they are stated to represent two independent replicates.

In response, the authors stated that the Figure 5 legend was inaccurate but the results are correctly reported. As is explained further below, the authors stated that the panels in question represent different technical replicates from two tubes originating from the same biological sample. They commented, “As flow cytometry is a single-cell analytic tool, FACS plots generated from two independent replicates from the same biological sample should yield very similar plots, but not necessarily identical.”

Two members of the Editorial Board reviewed the concerns and authors’ responses, and advised that the degree of similarity between the two panels exceeds what would be expected for different replicates, even if they originated from the same biological sample.

The authors stated that the raw data files used to generate Figure 5 were lost, and so this issue cannot be resolved.

The PLOS Pathogens Editors issue this Editorial Note to inform readers of this issue. While we remain concerned about the similarities between the two plots, we also concluded that the article’s overall results and conclusions are not significantly affected since the FACs profiles in question were intended to show two examples of the same experimental result.

In discussing this issue, the authors provided the following methodological clarifications about the experiment reported in Figure 5:

In addition, there is an error in the bar chart shown at the bottom of Figure 5: the x-axis label should be % of IFN-g^+^ T cells and not % CD44^+^ IFN-g^+^ T cells.