N Karaca

Publications (7)14.24 Total impact

• Article: IgG-anti-IgA antibodies: an autoimmune finding in patients with psoriasis vulgaris.

  E Azarsiz, I Ertam, N Karaca, G Aksu, S Alper, N Kutukculer
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  ABSTRACT: Psoriasis is thought to be an autoimmune disease caused by inappropriate activation of the cellular immune system. In this study, we aimed to search out IgG-anti-IgA antibody levels, serum immunoglobulins and antinuclear antibodies (ANA). The study enrolled 38 psoriasis vulgaris patients and 40 healthy controls. Mean IgG-anti-IgA levels were significantly higher in psoriasis patients. The frequency of positive ANA testing was 21.1%; however, there was no correlation between IgG-anti-IgA antibody levels and ANA positivity. Only one patient had low IgA levels without high IgG-anti-IgA concentrations. The data about high IgG-anti-IgA antibody levels are noteworthy for a new evidence of autoimmune mechanism.
  Minerva medica 06/2012; 103(3):183-7. · 0.90 Impact Factor
• Article: TLR2 and TLR4 gene polymorphisms in Turkish vitiligo patients.

  N Karaca, G Ozturk, B T Gerceker, M Turkmen, A Berdeli
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  ABSTRACT: Background  It has been shown that toll like receptors (TLR) may be involved in some inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis. Vitiligo is an acquired pigmentation disorder of unknown aetiology. A number of genes playing a role in inflammatory response may be associated with development of vitiligo. Objectives  To investigate whether there is an association between TLR 2 and TLR4 gene polymorphisms in Turkish patients with vitiligo. Methods  A total of 100 patients (59 women and 41 men) with vitiligo and 100 controls (58 women and 42 men) were included in the study. The TLR2 gene Arg753Gln and TLR4 gene Asp299Gly and Thr399Ile polymorphisms were genotyped by using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism method. The data were analysed by Mann-Whitney U-test, chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis. Results  Significant difference was found in the distribution of TLR2 Arg753Gln genotype and in the allele frequencies TLR2 753Gln between vitiligo patients and healthy subjects (P < 0.05). The distribution of TLR4 Asp299Gly genotype was significantly higher in the patient group (10%) than in the control group (%2) (P < 0.05). The TLR4 Thr399Ile distribution did not show any difference in both vitiligo and healthy groups. Conclusions  Our findings suggest that Toll-like receptor 2 gene Arg753Gln and Toll-like receptor 4 Asp299Gly gene polymorphisms are associated with vitiligo susceptibility in Turkish patients.
  Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology 03/2012; · 2.98 Impact Factor
• Article: Determination of cut-off titers and agreement between immunofluorescence and immunoblotting methods for detecting antinuclear antibodies in children.

  G Aksu, N Gulez, E Azarsiz, N Karaca, N Kutukçuler
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  ABSTRACT: Detection of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) is a diagnostic adjunct in patients with suspected autoimmune connective tissue diseases, and various detection methods are in use. The aim of this study was to analyze the agreement between the ANA immunoflourescence (IF) and immunoblotting (IB) methods and determine cut-off for children subjects in a laboratory setting. We evaluated 729 serum samples that were analyzed by both ANA IF and IB. The results were evaluated by chi(2) test and, for agreement, kappa index was used. Frequencies determined for both 1:40-1:100 cut-off titers of ANA IF in relation to IB testing supported the idea that 1:100 starting dilution should be recommended in children subjects for ANA IF method and antigen specific immunoblot testing was needed, especially for some of the ANA IF negative samples. Agreement between the two methods, especially with homogenous, granular, and nucleolar ANA IF patterns, was statistically significant.
  Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis 01/2010; 24(4):230-6. · 1.38 Impact Factor
• Article: A novel Y331X nonsense mutation in TNFRSF1A gene in two unrelated Turkish families with periodic fever syndrome.

  N Kutukculer, N Gulez, N Karaca, G Aksu, A Berdeli
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  ABSTRACT: The autoinflammatory disorders differ in severity, as well as age of onset, duration, and manifestations, but they all share some common features: recurring fever peaks, inflammation of serosal membranes, musculoskeletal involvement, varying types of skin rash, amyloidosis as a sequel of the disease. TRAPS is very rare in Turkish population and we present two unrelated Turkish children with similar clinical phenotypes and laboratory findings related with autoinflammatory disorders and with novel p. Y331X mutation in TNFRSF1A gene. Both of the patients were male and they had recurrent fever without abdominal pain and arthralgia. Full cDNA and exon-intron binding regions of TNFRSF1A, MEFV, MVK, CIAS1 genes were analysed by direct DNA sequencing methods in order to differentiate TRAPS, FMF, HIDS, CINCA/MWS/FCAS respectively. We screened ten exons of TNFRSF1A gene, and detected a heterozygous c.1080C>G nucleotide substitution in exon 10 in both of the unrelated patients, resulting p.Y360X nonsense (protein truncated) mutation. According to classical TNFRSF1A gene nomenclature and the agreement of 30th amino acid as the first one, it is accepted as p.Y331X. It was interesting to determine same mutations in fathers of two patients. In one of the cases, E148Q heterozygous mutation, which is one of the disease-causing mutations of MEFV gene, was detected. No nucleotide substitution was identified in exon and exon-intron splicing regions encoding 396 amino acid of MVK gene in both of the patients. In CIAS1 gene, two different nucleotide substitutions resulting synonymous amino acid mutation were detected in exon 3: c.[732G>A] and c.[786A>G] nucleotide substitutions and compatible p.A242A (according to c.DNA p.A244A) and p.R260R (according to c.DNA p.R262R) synonymous amino acid mutations. These nucleotide substitutions were also detected in parents and were reported to be normal variations in Turkish population. In conclusion, in Turkish patients, with dominantly inherited recurrent fever, TRAPS is a diagnosis worthy of attention and novel mutations have to be reported with phenotype associations.
  International Journal of Immunogenetics 10/2009; 37(1):21-5. · 1.29 Impact Factor
• Article: A case of bullous pemphigoid clinically mimicking subcorneal pustular dermatosis.

  T Dereli, N Karaca, I Kilinc Karaarslan, T Akalin, S Alper
  Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology 09/2008; 23(5):608-10. · 2.98 Impact Factor
• Article: Preparation and application of poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide)/kappa-Carrageenan hydrogels for immobilization of lipase.

  H Tümtürk, N Karaca, G Demirel, F Sahin
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  ABSTRACT: In the present of this study, two novel polymeric matrixes that are poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide-co-acrylamide) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylamide)/kappa-Carrageenan was synthesized and applied for immobilization of lipase. For the immobilization of enzyme, two different immobilization procedures have been carried out via covalently binding and entrapment methods. On the free and immobilized enzymes activities, optimum pH, temperature, storage and thermal stability was investigated. The optimum temperature for free, covalently immobilized and entrapped enzymes was found to be 30, 35 and 30 degrees C, respectively. Optimum pH for both free and immobilized enzymes was also observed at pH 8. Maximum reaction rate (Vmax) and Michaelis-Menten constant (Km) were determined for free and immobilized lipases. Furthermore, the reuse numbers of immobilized enzymes also studied. It was observed that after 40th use in 5 days, the retained activities for covalently immobilized and entrapped lipases were found as 39% and 22%, respectively. Storage and thermal stability of enzyme was also increased by as a result of immobilization procedures.
  International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 03/2007; 40(3):281-5. · 2.45 Impact Factor
• Article: Fatal peritonitis due to Trichoderma sp. in a patient undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

  D Eşel, A N Koç, C Utaş, N Karaca, N Bozdemir
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  ABSTRACT: We describe a rare case of peritonitis caused by an unusual fungus, Trichoderma sp., in a patient on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Management of the patient consisted of Tenckhoff catheter removal and antifungal chemotherapy, but the patient died.
  Mycoses 03/2003; 46(1-2):71-3. · 2.25 Impact Factor