Publications by authors named "Sercan Ergun"

Article Synopsis
  • Acanthamoeba species are protozoa that can cause serious eye and CNS infections, and current treatments are often ineffective, especially in specific areas like the eye.
  • The study evaluates the effectiveness of ethanolic fruit extract of E. umbellata, silver nanoparticles derived from it, and lauric acid in killing Acanthamoeba trophozoites and protecting DNA from damage.
  • Results show that these treatments can significantly kill trophozoites and prevent DNA damage, suggesting potential new options for treating Acanthamoeba infections.
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Transitional care is essential to maintain the continuity of care in younger patients with rheumatic diseases. In this study, we aimed to assess the transition readiness of rheumatology patients who had already transferred from pediatric to adult care using a questionnaire. We included young adult rheumatology patients who had already transferred to adult rheumatology care.

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Background: Many of the familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) patients present with arthritis during attacks, which may vary in its characteristics.

Aims: In this study, we aimed to describe and characterise arthritis in FMF patients.

Methods: We used our hospital's record system to retrospectively identify FMF patients with arthritis who presented to our clinic between 2005 and 2020.

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Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, maintains tissue homeostasis by eliminating damaged or unnecessary cells. However, cells can evade this process, contributing to conditions such as cancer. Escape mechanisms include anoikis, mitochondrial DNA depletion, cellular FLICE inhibitory protein (c-FLIP), endosomal sorting complexes required for transport (ESCRT), mitotic slippage, anastasis, and blebbishield formation.

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Background: Mechanisms by which varicocele causes infertility are not clear and few studies have reported that some miRNAs show expression alterations in men with varicocele. Recently, sperm promoter methylation of MLH1 has been shown to be higher in men diagnosed with varicocele. This study aimed to assess the potential effects of miR-145, which was determined to target MLH1 mRNA in silico on sperm quality and function in varicocele.

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Male infertility is a multifactorial heterogeneous reproductive disorder in which genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors play a role in the development of disease. Recent studies have shown that retrotransposon expression alterations may be related to impairment of spermatogenesis. Therefore, in this pilot study, we aimed to investigate whether HERV-K6 and HERV-K11 insertional variations have a role in idiopathic infertility among normozoospermic men.

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COVID-19 is a viral respiratory infection induced by the newly discovered coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. miRNA is an example of a strong and direct regulator of a gene's transcriptional activity. The interaction between miRNAs and their target molecules is responsible for homeostasis.

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Background: C-KIT is a receptor tyrosine kinase with oncogenic properties overexpressed in PCa cases. Through the use of an alternative promoter, a truncated c-KIT protein (tr-KIT) of 30-50 kDa is generated, lacking the extracellular and transmembrane domain. Tr-KIT promotes the formation of a multi-molecular complex composed of Fyn, Plcγ1, and Sam68.

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Purpose: Microdeletion on Y-chromosome is a well-known genetic cause of infertility in azoospermic and oligozoospermic men. RNA transcripts possess microRNA (miRNA) response elements (MRE) that may interact with competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA), thus repressing their activity. MiRNAs originally targeting transcripts of genes deleted in the Y-chromosome azoospermia factor (AZF) region are expected to be oriented to binding sites of new targets.

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Background: Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are essentially treated aiming to improve muscle function and extra muscular disease manifestations. Rituximab is potentially a glucocorticoid-sparing agent which was reviewed in multiple studies with small sample sizes due to the rarity of the disease. Higher statistical power can enhance the trustworthiness of alternative treatment modalities yielding the main objective of this study.

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Six extracts were obtained from plant species L., collected at Samsun in Turkey. The aim of this study was to examine the mechanisms of the anticancer activity of these extracts.

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There are many unknown aspects of the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The aim of the current study was to define new RCC-related genes and measure their associations with RCC and clinical parameters, especially platelet/lymphocyte ratio which may be an independent predictor of prognosis in patients with RCC and other forms of cancer. Via in silico analysis upon RCC-specific deleted genes in chromosome 3, four possible ceRNAs (ATXN3, ABI2, GOLGB1 and SMAD2) were identified.

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Truncated KIT (tr-KIT) is an alternative variant of c-KIT protein. Previous studies have clearly documented that c-KIT was associated with various oncogenic processes in RCC. However, the biological significance of tr-KIT in RCC development and progression remains unclear.

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Background/aim: This study aimed to comparatively analyze the expression levels of the SLC1A1 gene in renal specimens from tumors and adjacent healthy kidney tissues of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

Materials And Methods: Nineteen patients diagnosed with ccRCC were included in the study. The expression levels of the SLC1A1 and GAPDH genes were measured in tumor and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens from the adjacent healthy kidney of each subject.

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Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequent type of cancer in men. Hypericum perforatum (H. Perforatum) extract (HPE) administration provides remarkable decrease of PCa development.

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Background: In recent years, targeted cancer treatment methods at various molecular levels have been developed for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), one of two major subtypes of lung cancer. miRNAbased clinical trials are currently the preferred targeted therapeutic strategy. Also, ceRNAs (competing endogenous RNA) would be the newest and the most effective approach to uncover novel interactions between mRNAs and miRNAs in NSCLC carcinogenesis.

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Standard cancer therapies for solid malignancies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, are not target specific against cancer cells and are often not fully efficacious. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy may cause side effects, and the need to develop additional strategies for cancer treatment is urgent. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs with heterogeneous functions and have been described in almost every known cancer model.

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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, involved in the silencing of messenger RNA (mRNA) translation. The importance of miRNA signatures in disease screening, prognosis, and progression of different tumor types and subtypes is increasing. miRNA expression levels change depending on numerous factors.

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Apoptosis is described as a mechanism of cell death occurring after adequate cellular harm. Deregulation of apoptosis occurs in many human conditions such as autoimmune disorders, ischemic damage, neurodegenerative diseases and different cancer types. Information relating miRNAs to cancer is increasing.

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Background: Urotensin-II (U-II) is a peptide recognized by its potent vasoconstrictor activity in many vascular events, however the role of urotensin-II in migraine has not been considered yet. The molecular mechanisms and genetics of migraine have not been fully clarified yet, but it is well-known that vascular changes considerably contribute in pathophysiology of migraine and also its complications. The aim of this study was to analyze the plasma U-II levels along with genotype distributions and allele frequencies for UTS2 Thr21Met and Ser89Asn polymorphisms among the patients with migraine without aura (MWoA).

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Context: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common cardiomyopathy in children. MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small RNAs which have regulatory functions in many biological processes.

Objective: We aimed to determine miRNA expression levels in plasma of children with DCM.

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Beta (β)-thalassemia is the most frequently observed hereditary blood disorder in the world. It is characterized by deficiency of hemoglobin β-globin gene and is also a profoundly heterogeneous both at the molecular and clinical level. In the case of β-thalassemia, there is reduced (β(+) type) or absent (β(o) type) synthesis of the beta chains of hemoglobin.

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Competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) are RNA transcripts which can communicate with each other by decreasing targeting concentration of micro-RNA (miRNA) with the derepression of other messenger RNAs (mRNAs) having the common miRNA response elements (MREs). Oncocers are ceRNAs taking crucial roles in oncogenic pathways processed in many types of cancer, and this study analyzes oncocer-mediated cross-talk by sponging microRNAs (miRNAs) in these pathways. While doing this, breast, liver, colon, prostate, gastric, lung, endometrium, thyroid and epithelial cancers and melanoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, glioblastoma, acute promyelocytic leukemia, retinoblastoma, and neuroblastoma were analyzed with respect to ceRNA-based carcinogenesis.

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It is known that high-dose radiation has an effect on tissue healing, but tissue healing does not occur when low dose radiation is applied. To clarify this issue, we compare the treatment success of low dose radiation with programmed cell death mechanisms on wounded tissue. In this study, we aimed to investigate the interactions of low and high-dose radiation using an autophagic mechanism.

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Article Synopsis
  • Sagliker syndrome (SS) mainly develops before puberty and is linked to chronic kidney disease (CKD) that reaches stage 3 with secondary hyperparathyroidism.
  • In a study of 23 patients, genetic screening revealed mutations in the GNAS1, FGF23, and FGFR3 genes, with a significant 73.9% of patients showing abnormalities in the GNAS1 gene.
  • The findings suggest that these genetic mutations could be influencing the manifestation of bone deformities associated with SS, potentially acting as a link between different bone dysplasias and hereditary conditions related to CKD.
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