Retraction: Enhanced Immune Response and Protective Effects of Nano-chitosan-based DNA Vaccine Encoding T Cell Epitopes of Esat-6 and FL against Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection

Abstract

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After this article [1] was published, concerns were raised about Figs 1B, 5C, S3, and S4.

Specifically:

There appear to be similarities between panels within Figs 1B, S3, and S4 of this article [1]. The corresponding authors have indicated that there were errors in the preparation of these figures:

There appear to be similarities between panels in Figs 5C and S4 of this article [1] and panels in Fig 7 of another article by the same authors [2] before its correction in [3]. The corresponding authors have indicated that the images are correctly used in this article [1], but incorrectly used in [2], with the error subsequently corrected in [3]:

The corresponding authors provided replacement images from independent experimental replicates, and for Figs 1B and S4 they also provided cropped versions of the images in the published figures. However, they stated that the original uncropped and unadjusted images underlying the above-mentioned published figures are no longer available; as such, the concerns about the published figures could not be resolved.

In light of the extent of the above issues, which raise concerns about the reliability of the published results, the PLOS ONE Editors retract this article.

GF and YW did not agree with the retraction and stand by the article’s findings. QJ, MX, YL, WQ, DZ, LL, and GP either did not respond directly or could not be reached.