Cristina Adela Iuga

• Professor
• Professor at Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy

Background/Objectives: The complement system (particularly C5b-9) is an instrumental part of the induction and progression of atherosclerosis. The fluid phase C5b-9, also known as soluble C5b-9 (sC5b-9), is a reliable indicator of terminal complement pathway activation. Response Gene to Complement (RGC)-32 is a C5b-9 effector involved in cell cycle...

In the last few decades, obesity played a pivotal role by having a high impact on global economic and health systems due to its associated diseases, with cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, oncological, mental, and social implications. One of the most incriminated physiopathological mechanisms in obesity is chronic inflammation. The prima...

Recent advancements in proteomics have shown promise in identifying biomarkers for various cancers. Our study is the first to compare the serum proteomes of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) with cirrhosis (CIR), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), aiming to identify a proteomic signature that can effectiv...

Background Prostate cancer (PCa) is a common and complex disease in men, often progressing from localized to aggressive meta-static stages requiring advanced therapies. Early detection of PCa relies primarily on multiparametric tests, with limitations, like over-diagnosis and lack of specificity. Advances in molecular profiling, particularly proteo...

Obesity is marked by excessive fat accumulation in the adipose tissue, which disrupts metabolic processes and causes chronic systemic inflammation. Commonly, body mass index (BMI) is used to assess obesity-related risks, predicting potential metabolic disorders. However, for a better clustering of obese patients, we must consider molecular and epig...

The mechanism underlying podocyte dysfunction in minimal change disease (MCD) remains unknown. This study aimed to shed light on the potential pathophysiology of MCD using glomerular proteomic analysis. Shotgun proteomics using label-free quantitative mass spectrometry was performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) renal biopsies from tw...

Breast cancer (BC) remains one of the leading causes of mortality among women, with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) standing out for its aggressive nature and limited treatment options. Metabolic reprogramming, one of cancer’s hallmarks, underscores the importance of targeting metabolic vulnerabilities for therapeutic intervention. This study...

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in the study of medicinal and aromatic plants, due to their therapeutic properties that correlate with the presence of different active compounds. Agastache species (sp.) are aromatic plants that belong to the Lamiaceae family, originating from North America and East Asia. The present study aimed to evaluat...

Undetermined pancreatic cystic lesion (PCL) differentiation benefits from endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) based on morphology and cyst fluid analysis, but room for new biomarkers exists. Our aim was to assess the intracystic and serum diagnostic value of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (Ngal) and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) for differentiatio...

Despite the numerous advantages of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplants (allo-HSCT), there exists a notable association with risks, particularly during the preconditioning period and predominantly post-intervention, exemplified by the occurrence of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Risk stratification prior to symptom manifestation, along...

Crohn’s disease (CD) is characterized by a chronic, progressive inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract often leading to complications, such as strictures and fistulae. Currently, there are no validated tools anticipating short- and long-term outcomes at an early stage. This investigation aims to elucidate variations in protein abundance across...

Simple Summary Understanding epigenetic processes could revolutionize lung cancer care, enhancing diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Promising clinical trials, featuring various drug treatments and immunotherapy, offer optimism for patients with lung cancer, aiming for extended, better-quality lives with reduced side effects. However, comprehendi...

Apoptosis, the most extensively studied type of cell death, is known to play a crucial role in numerous processes such as elimination of unwanted cells or cellular debris, growth, control of the immune system, and prevention of malignancies. Defective regulation of apoptosis can trigger various diseases and disorders including cancer, neurological...

Introduction : Molecular techniques have the potential to shed light on glomerular diseases that conventional renal pathology may be unable to reveal. The aim of this study was to investigate whether proteomic patterns of glomeruli obtained from kidney biopsies can differentiate between minimal change disease (MCD), focal segmental glomeruloscleros...

Acute megakaryoblastic leukaemia (AMkL) is a rare subtype of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) representing 5% of all reported cases, and frequently diagnosed in children with Down syndrome. Patients diagnosed with AMkL have low overall survival and have poor outcome to treatment, thus novel therapies such as CAR T cell therapy could represent an alter...

Cotinus coggygria Scop. (smoketree) and Fragaria × ananassa Duch. (strawberry) are two industrially important species due to their composition in bioactive compounds. In this study, we investigated the effects of acute low-dose gamma irradiation (15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 Gy) on two red callus cultures established in smoketree and strawberry. The b...

Cancer still represents one of the biggest challenges in current medical practice. Among different types of cancer, oral cancer has a huge impact on patients due to its great visibility, which is more likely to create social stigma and increased anxiety. New early diagnose methods are still needed to improve treatment efficiency and patients’ life...

Salvia officinalis L. (sage) is a valuable medicinal plant from the Lamiaceae family widely used in traditional medicine. Given the therapeutic potential of sage, there is currently great interest in increasing the production of biological material and in stimulating the synthesis of bioactive compounds in this plant. The combined effect of gamma i...

Simple Summary In recent years, numerous research studies have been conducted to investigate the microorganisms encountered in various systems of the human body and their implications for cancer development and progression. This review offers a concise description of the bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other agents that colonize different human body...

Chiral metabolomics is starting to become a well-defined research field, powered by the recent advances in separation techniques. This review aimed to cover the most relevant advances in indirect enantioseparations of endogenous metabolites that were published over the last 10 years, including improvements and development of new chiral derivatizing...

The full understanding of the complex nature of cancer still faces many challenges, as cancers arise not as a result of a single target disruption but rather involving successive genetic and epigenetic alterations leading to multiple altered metabolic pathways. In this light, the need for a multitargeted, safe and effective therapy becomes essentia...

The ubiquitin-proteasome system is the crucial homeostatic mechanism responsible for the degradation and turnover of proteins. As such, alterations at this level are often associated with oncogenic processes, either through accumulation of undegraded pathway effectors or, conversely, excessive degradation of tumor-suppressing factors. Therefore, in...

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) arises from the ductular epithelium of the biliary tree, either within the liver (intrahepatic CCA) or more commonly from the extrahepatic bile ducts (extrahepatic CCA). This disease has a poor prognosis and a growing worldwide prevalence. The poor outcomes of CCA are partially explained by the fact that a final diagnosis i...

Objective: Current molecular characterization of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) does not incorporate the host reaction to cancer cells and cannot predict the response to chemo- or immunotherapy. Leptin is an adipokine involved in regulating energy balance with a possible role in the development of obesity-associated cancers, but its relat...

Coumarins are a family of benzopyrones largely distributed in the natural kingdom, being present in the seeds, fruits, flowers, or roots of various plant species. Natural coumarin compounds are found in significant concentrations in some herbs or spices used as nutraceuticals, but they are also present in cosmetics or household products, due to the...

Leontopodium alpinum Cass. (edelweiss) is recognized as a frequent constituent of anti-aging skin care products, providing increased antioxidant and anti-inflammatory defense. Considering the growing demand and the protected status of edelweiss in many countries, alternative methods of production have been developed, one of them being callus cultur...

Current genetic characterization of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) does not integrate the host reaction to cancer cells and cannot predict the response to chemo- or immunotherapy. The JAK/STAT pathway is an important factor of cytokine-mediated cancer inflammation, but its relationship with pancreatic carcinogenesis and the role of potenti...

Interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-23 are crucial for mediating gut mucosal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which has led to new therapeutic strategies. We assessed the relevancy of IL-17 and IL-23 serum levels as potential biomarkers towards severe IBD discrimination and disease-related complications. Sixty-two patients diagnosed with Cr...

(1) Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is one of the most studied rhinological disorders. Modifications of the respiratory nasal mucosa in COVID-19 patients are so far unknown. This paper presents a comparative morphological characterization of the respiratory nasal mucosa in CRSwNP versus COVID-19 and tissue interleukin...

"COVID-19 infection is a disease caused by the new type Coronaviruses family strain, SARS-CoV-2. It was first identified in China’s Wuhan City in December 2019. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared the public health emergency with COVID-19 a pandemic. As in the other affected countries, Romania’s health care professi...

Over the last decades, cancer has become one of the most relevant health issues at a worldwide level [...]

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is characterized by significant biologic and clinical heterogeneity. This study was designed to explore CLL B‐cells’ proteomic profile in order to identify biologic processes affected at an early stage and during disease evolution as stable or progressive. Purified B cells from 11 untreated CLL patients were teste...

Background There have been great advances in hepatocellular carcinoma management over the last years. However, there are still no prognostic biomarkers that can identify patients who will benefit the most from curative treatments. We aimed to investigate whether sPD-L1 levels measured before curative treatment is a prognostic biomarker of survival...

Continuing efforts are directed towards finding alternative breast cancer chemotherapeutics, with improved safety and efficacy profiles. Soy isoflavones represent promising agents but, despite extensive research, limited information exists regarding their impact on the breast cancer cell proteome. The purpose of this study was to compare the proteo...

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents an unmet medical need due to a high rate of metastatic occurrence and poor overall survival, pathology aggressiveness, heterogeneous clinical behavior and limited cytotoxic chemotherapy options available because of the absence of targetable receptors. The current standard of care in TNBC is represente...

Nutrition in early life is of extreme important due to direct correlation with long-term increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The fetal and postnatal level of micronutrients and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may alter metabolism, organ growth, development and function leading to increased risk of cardio metabolic diseases, obes...

The study presents a numerical model that uses the enthalpy method in order to solve the moving boundary problem and to predict the thermal behaviour of phase change materials during solidification and melting. The commercially available paraffin RT21 is considered as phase change material, and the thermophysical properties of the paraffin were det...

Metabolic diseases like diabetes mellitus or dyslipidemia have a complex etiology characterized by the interference of genetic predisposition and environmental factors like diet or lifestyle. Over time they can cause significant vascular complications, leading to dysfunction or failure of key organs (brain, heart), with possible fatal consequences...

Beauvericin (BEA) and enniatin B (EN B) are non-legislated Fusarium mycotoxins usually found in cereal and cereal-based products all around the world. By the proteomic analysis of mitochondria enriched extracts from Jurkat cells exposed for 24 h to three concentrations of BEA:EN B (0.01–0.1–0.5 μM), a number of 1821 proteins (202 mitochondrial) wer...

The rapid development in the food supply chain has led to increased interest for quality in the food sector. In the last two decades, the human health and food safety have become essential. Health problems are highly related to diet and nutritional habits. The connection between nutrition and the development of various health problems is even more...

The interactions of nanoparticles with living organisms are driven by an interface called the protein corona. This interface is formed when nanoparticles are introduced in biological milieu and proteins are adsorbed at nanoparticles’ surfaces. Understanding the factors that are responsible for the formation and the composition of the protein corona...

The generic term “melanin“ describes a black pigment of biological origin, although some melanins can be brown or even yellow. The pigment is characterized as a heterogenic polymer of phenolic or indolic nature, and the classification of eu-, pheo- and allo- melanin is broadly accepted. This classification is based on the chemical composition of th...

Being the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death, glial tumors are highly diverse tumor entities characterized by important heterogeneity regarding tumor malignancy and prognosis. However, despite the identification of important alterations in the genome of the glial tumors, there remains a gap in understanding the mechanisms involved in glio...

DIETARY FIBER: PROPERTIES, RECOVERY, AND APPLICATIONS

Mass spectrometry (MS) is an essential analytical technology on which the emerging omics domains; such as genomics; transcriptomics; proteomics and metabolomics; are based. This quantifiable technique allows for the identification of thousands of proteins from cell culture; bodily fluids or tissue using either global or targeted strategies; or dete...

The antispasmodic effect of drugs is used for the symptomatic treatment of cramping and discomfort affecting smooth muscles from the gastrointestinal, billiary or genitourinary tract in a variety of clinical situations.The existing synthetic antispasmodic drugs may cause a series of unpleasant side effects, and therefore the discovery of new molecu...

The purpose of this study was to highlight the way in which thermoanalytical and complementary techniques can guide the development of meloxicam oral lyophilisates both in the preformulation and formulation stages, as well as for the final products characterization. Thermoanalytical methods (differential scanning calorimetry – DSC, thermogravimetry...

This research was focused on the pharmaceutical development of a novel, fixed-dose combination isohydrafural-methyluracil ointment on a water soluble base-polyethylene glycol (PEG). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) were applied in order to determine the compatibility between active pharmace...

With the development of anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) monoclonal antibodies, trastuzumab-based therapy has become the standard of care among patients with early or advanced HER2-positive breast cancer. However, real-world data have shown that up to a half of patients do not receive trastuzumab or any other HER2-targeted agent...

The study presents a procedure for precise evaluation of the apparent heat capacity of phase change materials (PCM), based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A mathematical model capable to predict the thermal behavior of a PCM within a latent heat thermal storage system was developed. The model takes into account the PCM’s apparent heat c...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-angiogenic properties of soy isoflavones using two breast cancer cell lines, by measuring the concentration of 30 cytokines involved in angiogenesis using a multiplex glass slide ELISA-based array. Methods: Estrogen-dependent MCF-7 cells and estrogen-independent MDA-MB-231 cells were expose...

This paper aims to develop a bioactive biomaterial based on porous titanium coated with chitosan (Chi) hydrogel film (Chihf), which releases antibiotic, for tissue engineering of bone. The chosen antibiotic was Tetracycline (Tet); as a carrier, we used core-shell microcapsules of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) gel with k-carrageenan/chitosan polyelectr...

Background Interleukin-17 (IL-17) and Interleukin-23 (IL-23) are both involved in the regulation of the immune response and inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients. IL-17 is produced upon IL-23 stimulation of Th17 cells in a proinflammatory context. Il-23 is also highly expressed in colonic tissue, therefore being a therapeutic ta...

Maternal diet has a great impact on breast milk composition and therefore on infant nutrition as many nutrients that are essential for growth and development are secreted in breast milk. Moreover, it represents one of the most important factors for successful milk production and mother’s health and well-being. The aim of the present study was to co...

Efforts for the early diagnosis of the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) have recently been driven to one of the precursor lesions, namely intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas (IPMN). Only a few studies have focused on IPMN molecular biology and its overall progression to cancer. Therefore, IPMN lacks comprehensive characte...

Background and aims Proteome-based biomarker studies are targeting proteins that could serve as diagnostic, prognosis, and prediction molecules. In the clinical routine, immunoassays are currently used for the absolute quantification of such biomarkers, with the major limitation that only one molecule can be targeted per assay. The aim of our study...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the funtion of fenugreek seed mucilage (FSM) as potential matrix forming agent for orodispersible pharmaceutical lyophilisates. The FSM was isolated and characterized. FSM colloidal dispersions were prepared and the rheological evaluation was performed. Oral lyophilisates (OLs) with different FSM concent...

Complete blood protein profiles of 4 different blood sample collection methods (EDTA-, heparin- and citrate plasma and serum) were investigated and the data presented herein is an extension of the research article in Ref. [1]. Specimens were depleted of 6 highly abundant proteins and protein profiling was assessed by nano-LC UDMSE. Exhaustive prote...

Pre-analytical factors have a significant impact on the integrity of blood samples used for qualitative and quantitative protein profiling. Important factors are the type of the blood collection tube and the anticoagulant used. Only a few studies have been performed to assess these variables by comparing only serum and EDTA plasma collection tubes...

A gradient HPLC with UV detection method was developed for the quantitative determination of indapamide in the presence of 6 of its synthesis and degradation impurities. The separation of analytes was performed on X-Terra, C18, 250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm (Waters) column using a mixture of aqueous Na2EDTA, acetonitrile and methanol, with detection at 254...

Despite substantial research, the understanding of the chemopreventive mechanisms of soy isoflavones remains challenging. Promising tools, such as metabolomics, can provide now a deeper insight into their biochemical mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to offer a comprehensive assessment of the metabolic alterations induced by genistein, daid...

The potential benefit of soy isoflavones in breast cancer chemoprevention, as suggested by epidemiological studies, has aroused the interest of numerous scientists for over twenty years. Although intensive work has been done in this field, the preclinical results continue to be controversial and the molecular mechanisms are far from being fully und...

Background and aims. Soy supplements are often recommended in the management of menopause symptoms. The declared content of soy supplements is commonly expressed as total isoflavones per dosage form. Given that soy isoflavones have different estrogenic potencies, pharmacokinetics and metabolism, the aim of this study was to evaluate the total isofl...

Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with a mortality rate almost identical with its incidence. In this context, the investigation of the pancreatic cancer proteome has gained considerable attention because profiles of proteins may be able to identify disease states and progression more accurately. Therefore, our objective was to investigate...

The main aim in the development of a pharmaceutical system is the achievement of an adequate preparation. The potential physical and chemical interactions between drugs and excipients can affect the chemical nature, the stability and bioavailability of the drugs and, consequently, their therapeutic efficacy and safety. We present the thermal and sp...

In order to design efficient biomarkers for personalized medicine, one needs correlated insights from different multi-omics perspectives, such as proteomics, genomics, transcriptomics etc. In this paper, we address the challenge of integrating multi-omics data repositories for in-silico biomarker discovery and validation. For that, we have designed...

Production and storage of platelet concentrates (PC) induce protein changes in platelets leading to impaired platelet function. This study aimed to identify signaling pathways involved in the development of early platelet storage lesions in apheresis-PCs stored in plasma or additive solution (PAS). Apheresis-PCs from four donors were stored in plas...

Pathogen reduction in platelet concentrates (PC) using Amotosalen/UVA-light reduces the risk of transfusion transmitted infections but also decreases the post-transfusion platelet count increment. Little is known about potential platelet lesions caused by Amotosalen/UVA-light, which may reduce therapeutic efficacy of PCs. Platelets from buffy coat...

Indapamide (IDP) is a non-thiazide sulphonamide diuretic drug, currently used for the treatment of essential hypertension. A pharmaceutical formulation is considered appropriate when no interactions drug-excipient or excipient-excipient occur. The purpose of the present work was to study the compatibility of IDP with the pharmaceutical excipients e...

Preformulation studies regarding a physico-chemical evaluation of memantine, a non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, are presented in this work. This characterization of memantine is pre-required for the formulation of a parenteral solution. The water solubility, the thermal behavior and the chemical stability in aqueous...

Indapamide (IDP) is a non-thiazide sulphonamide diuretic drug generally used for the treatment of essential hypertension. The aim of this work was to obtain and to characterize new solid forms of IDP. In this respect, the recrystallization of IDP from different solvent or solvent mixtures was carried out. Thermoanalytical techniques (differential s...

Introduction: Gentamicin sulfate is an aminoglycosidic antibiotic, used in severe infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria. UV-Vis spectrophotometry, a simple, high speed and accessible analytical method, is generally suitable for the quantitative determination of pharmaceutical active ingredients in raw materials. In the case of gentamicin, a d...

Neomycin is an aminoglycosidic antibiotic, widely used against Gram-negative bacteria. Because of its advantages (simplicity, high speed, low cost and accessible instruments), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry represents a suitable method for the quantitative determination of pharmaceutical active ingredients in raw materials. Since ne...

Aim of the study. The present study oversees the influence of CYP polymorphisms on the metabolism of VPA and the correlation between the genotype and the plasma levels. Materials and method. 46 patients either with idiopathic or secondary epilepsy, with a mean age of 37,37 ± 1,87, evaluated in the Neurology Clinic of Cluj-Napoca were included. All...

We carried out a stability study of omeprazole in accordance with the stability testing of pharmaceuticals guideline approved by the Romanian National Drug Agency [1]. Omeprazole is sensitive to heat, humidity, light, and organic solvents; consequently, accelerated tests for stability evaluation were performed at 40°C±2°C and 75±5% relative humidit...