Scopus İndeksli Yayınlar Koleksiyonu / Scopus Indexed Publications Collection
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/7148
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Article Citation - WoS: 1Tcgex: a Powerful Visual Interface for Exploring and Analyzing Cancer Gene Expression Data(Springernature, 2025) Kus, M. Emre; Sahin, Cagatay; Kilic, Emre; Askin, Arda; Ozgur, M. Mert; Karahanogullari, Gokhan; Ekiz, H. AtakanAnalyzing gene expression data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and similar repositories often requires advanced coding skills, creating a barrier for many researchers. To address this challenge, we developed The Cancer Genome Explorer (TCGEx), a user-friendly, web-based platform for conducting sophisticated analyses such as survival modeling, gene set enrichment analysis, unsupervised clustering, and linear regression-based machine learning. TCGEx provides access to preprocessed TCGA data and immune checkpoint inhibition studies while allowing integration of user-uploaded data sets. Using TCGEx, we explore molecular subsets of human melanoma and identify microRNAs associated with intratumoral immunity. These findings are validated with independent clinical trial data on immune checkpoint inhibitors for melanoma and other cancers. In addition, we identify cytokine genes that can be used to predict treatment responses to various immune checkpoint inhibitors prior to treatment. Built on the R/Shiny framework, TCGEx offers customizable features to adapt analyses for diverse research contexts and generate publication-ready visualizations. TCGEx is freely available at https://tcgex.iyte.edu.tr, providing an accessible tool to extract insights from cancer transcriptomics data.Review Citation - WoS: 5Citation - Scopus: 5Breast Cancer Immunity: It Is Time for the Next Chapter(Cold Spring Harbor Lab Press, Publications dept, 2024) Quail, Daniela F.; Park, Morag; Welm, Alana L.; Ekiz, H. AtakanOur ability to interrogate the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) at an ever-increasing granularity has uncovered critical determinants of disease progression. Not only do we now have a better understanding of the immune response in breast cancer, but it is becoming possible to leverage key mechanisms to effectively combat this disease. Almost every component of the immune system plays a role in enabling or inhibiting breast tumor growth. Building on early seminal work showing the involvement of T cells and macrophages in controlling breast cancer progression and metastasis, single-cell genomics and spatial proteomics approaches have recently expanded our view of the TIME. In this article, we provide a detailed description of the immune response against breast cancer and examine its heterogeneity in disease subtypes. We discuss preclinical models that enable dissecting the mechanisms responsible for tumor clearance or immune evasion and draw parallels and distinctions between human disease and murine counterparts. Last, as the cancer immunology field is moving toward the analysis of the TIME at the cellular and spatial levels, we highlight key studies that revealed previously unappreciated complexity in breast cancer using these technologies. Taken together, this article summarizes what is known in breast cancer immunology through the lens of translational research and identifies future directions to improve clinical outcomes.Article Citation - WoS: 28Citation - Scopus: 30Senescence-Induced Immune Remodeling Facilitates Metastatic Adrenal Cancer in a Sex-Dimorphic Manner(Springer, 2023) Warde, Kate M.; Smith, Lorenzo J.; Liu, Lihua; Stubben, Chris J.; Lohman, Brian K.; Willett, Parker W.; Ammer, Julia L.; Castaneda Hernandez, Guadalupe; Imodoye, Sikiru O.; Zhang, Chenge; Jones, Kara D.; Converso Baran, Kimber; Ekiz, H. AtakanThe mechanisms underlying the influence of aging on cancer are incompletely understood. Warde et al. establish a new model of age- and sex-dependent adrenal cancer. Their work uncovers a tumor-protective role for myeloid immune cells that is enhanced by androgens. Aging markedly increases cancer risk, yet our mechanistic understanding of how aging influences cancer initiation is limited. Here we demonstrate that the loss of ZNRF3, an inhibitor of Wnt signaling that is frequently mutated in adrenocortical carcinoma, leads to the induction of cellular senescence that remodels the tissue microenvironment and ultimately permits metastatic adrenal cancer in old animals. The effects are sexually dimorphic, with males exhibiting earlier senescence activation and a greater innate immune response, driven in part by androgens, resulting in high myeloid cell accumulation and lower incidence of malignancy. Conversely, females present a dampened immune response and increased susceptibility to metastatic cancer. Senescence-recruited myeloid cells become depleted as tumors progress, which is recapitulated in patients in whom a low myeloid signature is associated with worse outcomes. Our study uncovers a role for myeloid cells in restraining adrenal cancer with substantial prognostic value and provides a model for interrogating pleiotropic effects of cellular senescence in cancer.Article Citation - WoS: 22Citation - Scopus: 23A Single-Amino Acid Substitution in the Adaptor Lat Accelerates Tcr Proofreading Kinetics and Alters T-Cell Selection, Maintenance and Function(Nature Portfolio, 2023) Lo, Wan-Lin; Ekiz, Hüseyin Atakan; Kuhlmann, Miriam; Rizzuto, Gabrielle; Ekiz, H. Atakan; Kolawole, Elizabeth M.; Revelo, Monica P.; Andargachew, RakiebMature T cells must discriminate between brief interactions with self-peptides and prolonged binding to agonists. The kinetic proofreading model posits that certain T-cell antigen receptor signaling nodes serve as molecular timers to facilitate such discrimination. However, the physiological significance of this regulatory mechanism and the pathological consequences of disrupting it are unknown. Here we report that accelerating the normally slow phosphorylation of the linker for activation of T cells (LAT) residue Y136 by introducing an adjacent Gly135Asp alteration (LAT(G135D)) disrupts ligand discrimination in vivo. The enhanced self-reactivity of LAT(G135D) T cells triggers excessive thymic negative selection and promotes T-cell anergy. During Listeria infection, LAT(G135D) T cells expand more than wild-type counterparts in response to very weak stimuli but display an imbalance between effector and memory responses. Moreover, despite their enhanced engagement of central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms, mice bearing LAT(G135D) show features associated with autoimmunity and immunopathology. Our data reveal the importance of kinetic proofreading in balancing tolerance and immunity. Lo and colleagues provide evidence for the TCR kinetic proofreading model by LAT Gly135Asp alteration to reveal functional consequences of altered kinetics in TCR activation in thymic selection and mature T-cell responses.