Editorial Note: Apoptosis by \[Pt(O,O'-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)\] requires PKC-δ mediated p53 activation in malignant pleural mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Editorial Note: Apoptosis by [Pt(O,O'-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)] requires PKC-δ mediated p53 activation in malignant pleural mesothelioma, by PLOS One Editors (PloS One, 2026).

The study

• Author: PLOS One Editors
• Journal: PloS One
• Published: 2026;21(7):e0353725
• Type of article: Comment, Editorial
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This document is not a research study. It is a 2026 editorial note from the journal PLOS One about a 2017 article by Muscella and colleagues that studied a platinum compound in malignant pleural mesothelioma cells. The cell lines were labelled ZL34 and ZL55. After that article was published, concerns were raised that several image panels in Figures 3 to 5 appeared to overlap with one another, in some cases when flipped or stretched. One panel also appeared to overlap with a panel in an earlier 2016 article by Muscella and colleagues. The corresponding author supplied the original underlying images. The corresponding author stated that the panel shared with the 2016 article was reused on purpose, because both came from the same time-course experiment, and that the Results section said so. After reviewing the original images, PLOS considered all the concerns resolved. The note also said that the raw data had not been provided with the article, contrary to its data availability statement. The authors have since supplied those data. The note reports no findings about mesothelioma.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Editorial note from the journal about concerns over figures in a previously published (2017) article; not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population. The note concerns image panels from experiments on malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines labelled ZL34 and ZL55 in the original 2017 article
• Exposure: The original article studied a platinum compound (abbreviated Ptac2S in the note) applied to mesothelioma cells; no asbestos exposure is discussed
• Main results:
  • Several image panels in Figures 3 to 5 of the 2017 article appeared to overlap with one another
  • The corresponding author provided the original underlying images for all panels of concern
  • The corresponding author stated that the ZL55 p-p38MAPK panel was intentionally reused from a panel in an earlier 2016 article by Muscella and colleagues
  • Contrary to the article's data availability statement, the raw data had not been provided with the article; the authors have now supplied them
• The authors' conclusion: After reviewing the original images, PLOS considered all the concerns resolved

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Apoptosis, Pleural Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Apoptosis by [Pt(O,O'-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)] requires PKC-δ mediated p53 activation in malignant pleural mesothelioma — A. Muscella, C. Vetrugno, et al. (2017)
• Editorial Note: In Vitro and In Vivo Antitumor Activity of [Pt(O,O'-acac)(γ-acac)(DMS)] in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma — PLOS One Editors (2026)
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