Publications by authors named "Seda Koyuncu"

Article Synopsis
  • Scientists found that a bad version of a gene called FUS causes some really serious types of ALS, a disease that affects muscles and movement.
  • The FUS gene gets too tangled with another protein called H1.2, which can make the disease worse, but if scientists lower the levels of H1.2 or stop a process called PARylation, it can help reduce the problems caused by FUS.
  • In tiny worms called C. elegans, cutting down on H1.2 and a similar protein helped stop the FUS problems, showing us that learning about these relations can help us find treatments for ALS.
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Article Synopsis
  • PolyQ diseases are serious brain disorders caused by a repeated section of DNA, and they currently have no good treatments.
  • Researchers tested many drugs and found that clofazimine, a medication used for leprosy, can help reduce the toxicity caused by a harmful protein related to Huntington's disease.
  • The study shows that clofazimine works by improving cell energy production and may help treat polyQ diseases in the future.
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In humans, aggregation of polyglutamine repeat (polyQ) proteins causes disorders such as Huntington's disease. Although plants express hundreds of polyQ-containing proteins, no pathologies arising from polyQ aggregation have been reported. To investigate this phenomenon, we expressed an aggregation-prone fragment of human huntingtin (HTT) with an expanded polyQ stretch (Q69) in Arabidopsis thaliana plants.

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Article Synopsis
  • Huntington's disease (HD) is a movement disorder linked to a mutation in the Huntingtin gene, leading to neurodegeneration and currently has no cure.
  • Research shows that hepatoma-derived growth factor (HDGF) has neuroprotective effects in both cellular and mouse models of HD, with lower levels found in susceptible neurons.
  • Although delivering HDGF to the brain decreased mutant Huntingtin aggregation, it did not significantly improve motor behavior or lifespan, indicating that while HDGF shows potential, its efficacy in treating HD needs further exploration.
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Stress granules (SGs) are highly conserved cytoplasmic condensates that assemble in response to stress and contribute to maintaining protein homeostasis. These membraneless organelles are dynamic, disassembling once the stress is no longer present. Persistence of SGs due to mutations or chronic stress has been often related to age-dependent protein-misfolding diseases in animals.

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  • Aging increases the risk of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by harmful protein aggregation, and understanding how cold temperatures affect this process could help mitigate these diseases.
  • Cold temperatures (15°C) enhance the proteasome's trypsin-like activity in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, driven by the proteasome activator PSME-3, which is essential for extending lifespan and improving protein degradation as organisms age.
  • Moderate cold exposure (36°C) in human cells similarly promotes trypsin-like activity through PA28γ/PSME3, leading to reduced protein aggregation and neurodegeneration, suggesting that cold temperatures may offer a universal strategy for preventing multiple diseases.
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Stress granules are membrane-less ribonucleoprotein organelles that assemble upon exposure to stress conditions, but rapidly disassemble upon removal of stress. However, chronic stress can lead to persistent stress granules, a feature of distinct age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Among them, Huntington's disease (HD), which is caused by mutant expansion of the polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats of huntingtin protein (HTT), leading to its aggregation.

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Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is maintained by a tightly regulated and interconnected network of biological pathways, preventing the accumulation and aggregation of damaged or misfolded proteins. Thus, the proteostasis network is essential to ensure organism longevity and health, while proteostasis failure contributes to the development of aging and age-related diseases that involve protein aggregation. The model organism has proved invaluable for the study of proteostasis in the context of aging, longevity and disease, with a number of pivotal discoveries attributable to the use of this organism.

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Ageing is driven by a loss of cellular integrity. Given the major role of ubiquitin modifications in cell function, here we assess the link between ubiquitination and ageing by quantifying whole-proteome ubiquitin signatures in Caenorhabditis elegans. We find a remodelling of the ubiquitinated proteome during ageing, which is ameliorated by longevity paradigms such as dietary restriction and reduced insulin signalling.

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Background: The external validity of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is critical for the relevance of trial results in a clinical setting. We aimed to assess the external validity of RCTs investigating postoperative pain treatment after total hip and knee arthroplasty (THA and TKA) by comparing patient characteristics in these trials with a clinical cohort. Further, we assessed the use of exclusion criteria of the included RCTs.

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CAG-repeat expansions in at least eight different genes cause neurodegeneration. The length of the extended polyglutamine stretches in the corresponding proteins is proportionally related to their aggregation propensity. Although these proteins are ubiquitously expressed, they predominantly cause toxicity to neurons.

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Objective: To investigate whether remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) prevents myocardial injury in patients undergoing hip fracture surgery.

Design: Phase II, multicentre, randomised, observer blinded, clinical trial.

Setting: Three Danish university hospitals, 2015-17.

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A moderate reduction of body temperature can induce a remarkable lifespan extension. Here we examine the link between cold temperature, germ line fitness and organismal longevity. We show that low temperature reduces age-associated exhaustion of germ stem cells (GSCs) in , a process modulated by thermosensory neurons.

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UBR5 is an E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in distinct processes such as transcriptional regulation and development. UBR5 is highly upregulated in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), whereas its expression decreases with differentiation, suggesting a role for UBR5 in ESC function. However, little is known about how UBR5 regulates ESC identity.

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Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) undergo unlimited self-renewal while maintaining their potential to differentiate into post-mitotic cells with an intact proteome. As such, iPSCs suppress the aggregation of polyQ-expanded huntingtin (HTT), the mutant protein underlying Huntington's disease (HD). Here we show that proteasome activity determines HTT levels, preventing polyQ-expanded aggregation in iPSCs from HD patients (HD-iPSCs).

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Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) exhibit high levels of proteasome activity, an intrinsic characteristic required for their self-renewal, pluripotency and differentiation. However, the mechanisms by which enhanced proteasome activity maintains hESC identity are only partially understood. Besides its essential role for the ability of hESCs to suppress misfolded protein aggregation, we hypothesize that enhanced proteasome activity could also be important to degrade endogenous regulatory factors.

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Huntington's disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor dysfunction, cognitive deficits and psychosis. HD is caused by mutations in the () gene, resulting in the expansion of polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats in the HTT protein. Mutant HTT is prone to aggregation, and the accumulation of polyQ-expanded fibrils as well as intermediate oligomers formed during the aggregation process contribute to neurodegeneration.

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Protein homeostasis, or proteostasis, is essential for cell function, development, and organismal viability. The composition of the proteome is adjusted to the specific requirements of a particular cell type and status. Moreover, multiple metabolic and environmental conditions challenge the integrity of the proteome.

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Human embryonic stem cells can replicate indefinitely while maintaining their undifferentiated state and, therefore, are immortal in culture. This capacity may demand avoidance of any imbalance in protein homeostasis (proteostasis) that would otherwise compromise stem cell identity. Here we show that human pluripotent stem cells exhibit enhanced assembly of the TRiC/CCT complex, a chaperonin that facilitates the folding of 10% of the proteome.

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De novo lipogenesis (DNL), the conversion of glucose and other substrates to lipids, is often associated with ectopic lipid accumulation, metabolic stress, and insulin resistance, especially in the liver. However, organ-specific DNL can also generate distinct lipids with beneficial metabolic bioactivity, prompting a great interest in their use for the treatment of metabolic diseases. Palmitoleate (PAO), one such bioactive lipid, regulates lipid metabolism in liver and improves glucose utilization in skeletal muscle when it is generated de novo from the obese adipose tissue.

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