PLOS ONE Retracts Osteosarcoma Resveratrol Study Over Image and Statistics Concerns

The PLOS ONE Editors retracted a 2026 article claiming that resveratrol eliminates osteosarcoma cancer stem cells through STAT3 pathway inhibition, publishing the retraction notice on October 26, 2026. The decision followed post-publication concerns about Figures 2 through 4 and about how the study’s methodology was reported, concerns the authors never addressed.

The imaging concerns were extensive. The Editors reported unusual and inconsistent repetitive features between the backgrounds of all Figure 2A panels. The Figure 3A MG-63 Vehicle panel appeared more similar to the Figure 5A Dex+GYY panel of a second paper than would be expected from independent results. Within the retracted article itself, several western blot panels appeared to fully or partially overlap, some only when rotated or flipped: the Figure 3D MG-63 Bcl-xL lane 1 overlapped with the MNNG/HOS Cleaved caspase-3 lane 2, and the MG-63 Cleaved caspase-3 panel overlapped with the MNNG/HOS Bcl-xL panel.

Figure 4A panels also matched images from a third paper that had itself already been retracted. The MG-63 p-JAK2 panel overlapped with the HCT116 β-actin (42 kD) panel from that paper, the MG-63 p-STAT3 panel overlapped with its flSREBP1 (125 kD) panel, and the MNNG/HOS p-STAT3 panel overlapped with its mSREBP1 (65 kD) panel when flipped.

The methodological concerns extended beyond images. The Editors found that the article’s reporting on animal research did not meet the journal’s Animal Research Reporting Guidelines policy in place when the manuscript was submitted. The statistical reporting was also flagged: the Materials and Methods section stated only that Student’s t-test had been used, without explaining how the analysis was adjusted for multivariate comparisons or corrected for multiple pairwise comparisons.

When the journal raised these issues, the authors did not respond to its communications. In the absence of author responses and of the original data underlying the published results, the Editors concluded the concerns could not be resolved. Because the unresolved concerns called into question the reliability and integrity of the published results, the article was retracted. All authors either did not respond directly or could not be reached, according to the notice.

Subject of Research: Retraction of a PLOS ONE study on resveratrol and osteosarcoma cancer stem cells due to image and statistical integrity concerns

Article Title: Retraction: Resveratrol eliminates cancer stem cells of osteosarcoma by STAT3 pathway inhibition

Article References: The PLOS One Editors (2026). Retraction: Resveratrol eliminates cancer stem cells of osteosarcoma by STAT3 pathway inhibition. PLOS One, 21(10), e0361240. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361240

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0361240

Keywords: retraction, PLOS ONE, resveratrol, osteosarcoma, cancer stem cells, STAT3 pathway, image duplication, western blots, research integrity, statistics, animal research reporting, eliminates