The PLOS One Editors issued a formal retraction on September 3, 2026 for the 2012 paper titled "Identification of sumoylation sites in CCDC6, the first identified RET partner gene in papillary thyroid carcinoma, uncovers a mode of regulating CCDC6 function on CREB1 transcriptional activity." The retraction notice is published with DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0357529 and is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution license. The notice explains that concerns were raised after publication about several figures in the original article, and that editorial review found unresolved issues that warranted retraction.
The retraction notice lists concerns about image data presented in Figures 1, 3, 4, and Supplemental Figure S3 of the original article. The editors describe specific instances where panels or lanes appear more similar than would be expected if they represented independent experimental results. The items highlighted by the editors include:
Fig 1C: similarities noted in Ni-NTA pull down IB anti-HIS lanes 2 and 4, and in total extract IB anti-CCDC6 lanes 2 and 3.
Fig 3C: when levels are adjusted to visualise background, the CCDC6wt Flag panel and the CCDC6 TM Flag panel appear more similar than expected. Additional similarities were reported between the CCDC6 TM GFP and Hoechst panels in Fig 3C and the CCDC6wt GFP and Hoechst panels in Fig S3.
Figs 4B and 4C: the CREB1 panels were observed to show lanes with apparent similarity (Fig 4B CREB1 lanes 2–5 versus Fig 4C CREB1 lanes 1–4) despite representing different experimental results according to the figure legends.
The notice frames these observations as concerns about the integrity and independence of the image data underlying the reported results.
The corresponding author responded to the journal’s queries and acknowledged at least one concrete figure preparation error. Specifically, the corresponding author confirmed that the Fig S3 CCDC6wt GFP and Hoechst panels were incorrect and provided replacement panels for that supplemental figure.
For the CREB1 panels in Figs 4B and 4C, the corresponding author explained that the CREB1 images functioned as a shared loading control derived from the same master lysate mix that was run on the same gel. They further stated that the Fig 4C CREB1 panel had been spliced such that the first lane of the Fig 4C CREB1 panel corresponds to the first lane of the Fig 4B CREB1 panel. The corresponding author also stated that the uncropped blots underlying the Figs 4B and 4C results are no longer available.
The corresponding author’s responses did not resolve the editors’ concerns regarding the panels cited in Figs 1C and 3C; those concerns remained unresolved after the author’s reply.
After receiving the authors’ responses and reviewing the available materials, the PLOS One editors concluded that there were unresolved concerns about the reliability of the image data in multiple figures. Because the issues affecting Figs 1C and 3C were not adequately addressed and because original uncropped blots for some CREB1 panels were not available, the editors determined that the integrity of the published record could not be assured. On that basis, the editors retracted the article.
The retraction notice reports that one author, listed as AC, did not agree with the retraction. Other named coauthors (CL, FM, VL, SP, DS, and AF) either did not respond directly to the journal’s correspondence or could not be reached. The notice does not provide further detail about the nature of AC’s disagreement or any additional communications.
The retraction notice cites the original article as: Luise C, Merolla F, Leone V, Paladino S, Sarnataro D, Fusco A, et al. RETRACTED: Identification of sumoylation sites in CCDC6, the first identified RET partner gene in papillary thyroid carcinoma, uncovers a mode of regulating CCDC6 function on CREB1 transcriptional activity. PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e49298. The retraction notice includes the 2026 PLOS One retraction citation and DOI. The notice is open access and links to the original article page and PDF; it also records article-level metrics and related links on the PLOS One site.
Notes and limits of this notice
All content above is a factual summary of the retraction notice issued by The PLOS One Editors. No additional experimental data, outcomes, or independent verification are reported in the retraction notice beyond the items listed and the authors’ stated responses. Where the retraction notice records that original, uncropped blots are no longer available, no underlying raw data were provided to the journal for those specific items according to the published notice.