Publications by authors named "M Asim Safak"

Article Synopsis
  • * Some polyomaviruses can cause serious diseases such as polyomavirus-associated nephropathy, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, trichodysplasia spinulosa, and Merkel cell carcinoma.
  • * Recent research focuses on the functions of viral proteins and microRNA that these viruses express, shedding light on their role in viral biology, how they transform cells, and their potential impact on disease progression.
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Article Synopsis
  • - The JC virus (JCV) encodes multiple regulatory proteins, including large T antigen (LT-Ag) and small t antigen (Sm t-Ag), through alternative splicing of its pre-mRNA, with LT-Ag known for its role in cell transformation.
  • - The study found that Sm t-Ag aids cell cycle progression by facilitating the transition from G0/G1 to S phase, which involves early expression of important cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (like cyclin B and Cdk2).
  • - Sm t-Ag is shown to enhance growth-promoting pathways such as the PI3K/Akt/mTOR axis, leading to increased levels of active proteins like phosphorylated-Akt, suggesting
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We previously reported the discovery and characterization of two novel proteins (ORF1 and ORF2) generated by the alternative splicing of the JC virus (JCV) late coding region. Here, we report the discovery and partial characterization of three additional novel ORFs from the same coding region, ORF3, ORF4 and ORF5, which potentially encode 70, 173 and 265 amino acid long proteins respectively. While ORF3 protein exhibits a uniform distribution pattern throughout the cells, we were unable to detect ORF5 expression.

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Aim: Increasing the extensity of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) treatment which is one of the important parameters of tuberculosis (TB) control and completing the treatment in success are important. The purpose of this study is to evaluate LTBI treatment indications and treatment outcomes of patients who received LTBI treatment in İstanbul between 2016 and 2018.

Methods: The treatment outcomes of people who started LTBI treatment registered in TB dispensaries in Istanbul between 2016 and 2018 were analyzed retrospectively according to the variables of the age groups, gender, dispensary subgroups, and prevention treatment indications.

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JC virus encodes an important regulatory protein, known as Agnoprotein (Agno). We have recently reported Agno's first protein-interactome with its cellular partners revealing that it targets various cellular networks and organelles, including mitochondria. Here, we report further characterization of the functional consequences of its mitochondrial targeting and demonstrated its co-localization with the mitochondrial networks and with the mitochondrial outer membrane.

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