Manuela Banciu

Babeş-Bolyai University | UBB · Faculty of Biology and Geology

Chronic knee and lower back pain due to osteoarthritis (OA) has a global prevalence and impacts human well-being by impairing mobility. Oxidative stress and inflammation are key factors in OA pathogenesis and progression. Non-viral gene delivery through liposomes is a promising approach for repairing damaged cartilage tissues. Our study focuses on...

Cancer survivors are at a much greater risk of developing cardiovascular diseases due to cardiotoxic chemotherapy. Anthracyclines, antimetabolites and alkylating agents are known to have damaging side effects on the cardiovascular system. Cancer treatment-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) or cardiotoxicity (CTOX) is defined by the development of...

Our previous studies demonstrated a tight connection between simvastatin (SIM) inhibition of B16.F10 murine melanoma cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro and strong suppression of the subunit α of hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) (HIF-1 α) production in these cancer cells. Since the translation of HIF-1α is modulated by signaling pathways coor...

Although recent advancements in cancer immunology have resulted in the approval of numerous immunotherapies, minimal progress has been observed in addressing hard-to-treat cancers. In this context, therapeutic oligonucleotides, including interfering RNAs, antisense oligonucleotides, aptamers, and DNAzymes, have gained a central role in cancer thera...

Please cite this article as: S.R. Ranamalla, S. Tavakoli, A.S. Porfire, et al., A quality by design approach to optimise disulfide-linked hyaluronic acid hydrogels, Carbohydrate Polymers (2023), https://doi. Abstract In this study, the disulfide-linked hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels were optimised for potential application as a scaffold in tissue e...

Background and aims Mercury (Hg) contamination poses severe human and environmental health risks. We aimed to evaluate the colonization of Hg-contaminated sites by native plants and the prokaryotic composition of rhizosphere soil communities of the dominant plant species. Methods A field study was conducted at a Hg-contaminated site in Romania. Me...

The intricate cooperation between cancer cells and nontumor stromal cells within melanoma micro-environment (MME) enables tumor progression and metastasis. We previously demonstrated that the interplay between tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and melanoma cells can be disrupted by using long-circulating liposomes (LCLs) encapsulating prednisolon...

Colorectal cancer remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in both developed and emerging countries. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of cells within the tumor mass harboring stem cell characteristics, considered responsible for tumor initiation, growth, relapse, and treatment failure. Lately, it has become clear that...

A series of novel silver(I) complexes of type [Ag(OTf)L] (L = RR'Se), namely [Ag(OTf)Se{C6H4(CH2NMe2)-2}(CH2Phtz)] (1), [Ag(OTf)Se{C6H4(CH2NEt2)-2}(CH2Phtz)] (2), [Ag(OTf)Se{C6H4[CH2N(CH2CH2)2O]-2}(CH2Phtz)] (3), [Ag(OTf)Se{C6H4(CH2NMe2)-2}(CH2CH2pz)] (4), [Ag(OTf)Se{C6H4(CH2NEt2)-2}(CH2CH2pz)] (5), [Ag(OTf)Se{C6H4[CH2N(CH2CH2)2O]-2}(CH2CH2pz)] (6)...

Photothermal therapy (PTT) is gaining a lot of interest as a cancer treatment option with minimal side effects due to the efficient photothermal agents employed. They are based on nano-materials that, upon laser irradiation, absorb photon energy and convert it into heat to induce hy-perthermia, which destroys the cancer cells. Here, the unique ligh...

Tissue regeneration is a prominent area of research, developing biomaterials aimed to be tunable, mechanistic scaffolds that mimic the physiological environment of the tissue. These bio-materials are projected to effectively possess similar chemical and biological properties, while at the same time are required to be safely and quickly degradable i...

Primary melanoma aggressiveness is determined by rapid selection and growth of cellular clones resistant to conventional treatments, resulting in metastasis and recurrence. In addition, a reprogrammed tumor-immune microenvironment supports melanoma progression and response to therapy. There is an urgent need to develop selective and specific drug d...

Tailoring extracellular vesicles (EVs) as targeted drug delivery systems to enhance the therapeutic efficacy showed superior advantage over liposomal therapies. Herein, we developed a novel nanotool for targeting B16.F10 murine melanoma, based on EVs stabilized with Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and loaded with doxorubicin (DOX). Small EVs were efficie...

Anti-angiogenic therapies for melanoma have not yet been translated into meaningful clinical benefit for patients, due to the development of drug-induced resistance in cancer cells, mainly caused by hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) overexpression and enhanced oxidative stress mediated by tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). Our previous study d...

An increasing number of studies published so far have evidenced the benefits of Simvastatin (SIM) and Doxorubicin (DOX) co-treatment in colorectal cancer. In view of this, the current study aimed to investigate the pharmaceutical development of liposomes co-encapsulating SIM and DOX, by implementing the Quality by Design (QbD) concept, as a means t...

Tailoring extracellular vesicles (EVs) as targeted drug delivery systems to enhance the therapeutic efficacy showed superior advantage over liposomal therapies. Herein, we developed a novel nanotool for targeting B16.F10 murine melanoma, based on EVs stabilized with Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and loaded with doxorubicin (DOX). Nanosized EVs were eff...

In recent decades, organotin(IV) chemistry has seen a fast growing owed to the biological, pharmaceutical and medicinal applications found for different compounds. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the antiproliferative activity of several organotin(IV) compounds in order to bring a better understanding of the structure-activity relations...

Extracellular vesicles (EV) secreted in the tumour microenvironment (TME) are emerging as major antagonists of anticancer therapies by orchestrating the therapeutic outcome through altering the behaviour of recipient cells. Recent evidence suggested that chemotherapeutic drugs could be responsible for the EV-mediated tumour–stroma crosstalk associa...

Regardless of recent progress, melanoma is very difficult to treat, mainly due to the drug resistance modulated by tumor cells as well as by the tumor microenvironment (TME). Among the immune cells recruited at the tumor site, tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) are the most abundant, promoting important tumorigenic processes: angiogenesis, inflamm...

5-fluorouracil-based therapy remains the main approach in colorectal cancer, even though there are still some drawbacks, such as chemoresistance. In this study we combined 5-fluorouracil encapsulated in long-circulating liposomes with simvastatin also encapsulated in long-circulating liposomes that was previously proved to exert antitumor actions o...

The goal of the current study was to investigate the pharmacokinetic profile, tissue distribution and adverse effects of long-circulation liposomes (LCL) with curcumin (CURC) and doxorubicin (DOX), in order to provide further evidence for previously demonstrated enhanced antitumor efficacy in colon cancer models. The pharmacokinetic studies were ca...

Abstract. Several lines of evidence have clearly demonstrated the role of the tumor microenvironment in favoring the drug resistance of melanoma cells, as well as the progression of this cancer type. Since our previous studies proved that the accumu‑ lation of prednisolone disodium phosphate (PLP) in melanoma tissue inhibited tumor growth by exerti...

Increasing evidence has suggested that extracellular vesicles (EV) mediated bidirectional transfer of functional molecules (such as proteins, different types of RNA, and lipids) between cancer cells and tumor stromal cells (immune cells, endothelial cells, fibroblasts, stem cells) and strongly contributed to the reinforcement of cancer progression....

Backround:Ajuga species have been used in traditional medicine for their diuretic, anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, and hepatoprotective properties. Purpose: The phytochemical profile and anticancer potential of three Ajuga sp. (A. genevensis, A. chamaepitys, and A. laxmannii) from Romania was investigated. Materials and Methods: The phytochemical...

Our recent studies have demonstrated that the antitumor efficacy of doxorubicin (DOX), administered in long-circulating liposomes (LCL), could be considerably improved after its co-encapsulation with curcumin (CURC). Thus, the question addressed within this article is whether LCL-CURC-DOX can be exploited more efficiently than liposomal DOX for fut...

The major drawback of current anti-angiogenic therapies is drug resistance, mainly caused by overexpression of the transcription factor, hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) as a result of treatment-induced hypoxia, which stimulates cancer cells to develop aggressive and immunosuppressive phenotypes. Moreover, the cancer cell resistance to anti-ang...

The diorganodiselenides (pzCH2CH2)2Se2 (1) and (PhtzCH2)2Se2 (2) were prepared by reacting Na2Se2 with 1-(2-bromoethyl)-1H-pyrazole and 4-(chloromethyl)-2-phenylthiazole, respectively, while the reactions between 1-(2-bromoethyl)-1H-pyrazole or 4-(chloromethyl)-2-phenylthiazole and the lithium organoselenolates [2-(Et2NCH2)C6H4]SeLi and [2-{O(CH2CH...

Purpose: Besides cholesterol lowering effects, simvastatin (SIM) at very high doses possesses antitumor actions. Moreover our previous studies demonstrated that tumor-targeted delivery of SIM by using long-circulating liposomes (LCL) improved the therapeutic index of this drug in murine melanoma-bearing mice. To evaluate whether this finding can be...

Background Emerging treatment options for colon cancer are needed to overcome the limitations regarding the side effects of current chemotherapeutics and drug resistance. The goal of this study was to assess the antitumor actions of PEGylated long-circulating liposomes (LCL) co-delivering curcumin (CURC) and doxorubicin (DOX) on murine colon carcin...

The antitumor efficacy of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) is hindered not only by the low therapeutic index, but also by tumor cell resistance to this cytotoxic drug. Therefore, to enhance the 5-FU antitumor activity, the present research employed a novel tumor-targeted therapy based on the co-administration of 5-FU encaps...

The aim of this work was to use the quality-by-design (QbD) approach in the development of long-circulating liposomes co-loaded with curcumin (CUR) and doxorubicin (DOX) and to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of these liposomes in vitro using C26 murine colon carcinoma cell line. Based on a risk assessment, six parameters, namely the phospholipid,...

The role of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) in the development of colon carcinoma is still controversial. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the TAM‑driven processes that may affect colon cancer cell proliferation. To achieve this purpose, murine macrophages were co-cultured with C26 murine colon carcinoma cells at a cell density...

5 - Fluorouracil (5 - FU) is an anticancer drug widely used in the treatment of colorectal cancers. In this work, long - circulating liposomes (LCL) were proposed as carriers able to improve the therapy with 5 - FU. The objective was to optimize the formulation of 5 - FU - loaded long circulating liposomes (LC L - 5 - FU) using the method of expe...

Our previous studies reported that one of the main mechanisms of the antitumor activity of simvastatin (SIM) in B16.F10 murine melanoma cells was associated with strong suppression of the constitutive cell production of the α subunit of the heterodimeric transcription factor hypoxia‑inducible factor (HIF)‑1. Thus, the present study aimed to broaden...

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is an anticancer drug widely used in the treatment of colorectal cancers. In this work, long-circulating liposomes (LCL) were proposed as carriers able to improve the therapy with 5-FU. The objective was to optimize the formulation of 5-FU-loaded long circulating liposomes (LCL-5-FU) using the method of experimental design and...

Quality by design principles (QbD) were used to assist the formulation of prednisolone-loaded long-circulating liposomes (LCL-PLP) in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the preparation process. This approach enables us to improve the final product quality in terms of liposomal drug concentration, encapsulation efficiency and size a...

Previous studies have demonstrated that tumor‑associated macrophages (TAMs) are pivotal players in tumor progression via modulation of tumor angiogenesis, inflammation, metastasis and oxidative stress, as well as of the response of cancer cells to cytotoxic drugs. Nevertheless, the role of TAMs in the prognosis of colorectal cancer remains controve...

In this work, two classes of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were biosynthesized with the goal to assess their reliability in vitro as surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanotags. Mycosynthesized silver nanoparticles (MAgNPs) and phytosynthesized silver nanoparticles (PAgNPs) were produced through environmentally friendly procedures by reduction...

Statins are drugs traditionally used to lower cholesterol levels in blood. At concentrations 100- to 500-fold higher than those needed for reaching cholesterol lowering activity, they have anti-tumour activity. This anti-tumour activity is based on statins pleiotropic effects derived from their ability to inhibit the mevalonate synthesis and includ...

At present, multifunctional noble metal-based nanocomposites are extensively investigated for their potential in performing cellular imaging, diagnostics and therapy by integration of unique plasmonic properties with the spectroscopic expression and therapeutic activity of appropriate drug. In this work, we report the fabrication of 3-dimensional (...

Temporal variation in oxidative physiology and its associated immune function may occur as a result of changes in parasite infection over the year. Evidence from field and laboratory studies suggests links between infection risk, oxidative stress, and the ability of animals to mount an immune response; however the importance of parasites in mediati...

Temporal variation in oxidative physiology and its associated immune function may occur as a result of changes in parasite infection over the year. Evidence from field and laboratory studies suggests links between infection risk, oxidative stress, and the ability of animals to mount an immune response; however the importance of parasites in mediati...

Abstract Simvastatin (SIM) is a lipophilic statin that has potential benefits for prevention and treatment of several types of malignancies. However, its low water solubility and the toxicity associated with administration of high doses recommend it for encapsulation in carriers able to deliver the therapeutic dose in the tumor. In this work, lipos...

Temporally changing environmental conditions occur in most parts of the world and can exert strong pressure on the immune defense of organisms. Seasonality may result in changes in physiological traits over the year, and such changes may be essential for the optimization of defense against infections. Evidence from field and laboratory studies sugg...

Statins, as inhibitors of de-novo synthesis of cholesterol, exert cytotoxic actions on tumor cells. Despite the increasing data on the antitumoral activities of statins, their complete mechanisms of action still remain obscure. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the mechanisms of lipophilic statin-induced cytotoxicity on B16.F10 murin...

The purpose of this study was to examine the sensitivity, in a field situation, of the hyporheic fauna to pollution by heavy metals and also to test the use of oxidative stress enzymes produced by this fauna as a sensitive indicator of oxidative stress generated by chemical contamination. This was done by surveying the patterns of distribution, str...

Cervical cancer remains a significant cause of mortality among women globally, even though it is the cancer with the greatest demonstrated potential for screening and prevention. Molecular and epidemiologic studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between human papillomavirus, cervical intraepithelial neoplasias, and invasive carcinomas of t...

The chronic inflammatory environment of tumors is a target for novel antitumor therapeutic strategies. Besides cholesterol lowering effects, statins have been studied for their anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. These pleiotropic effects result mainly from the altered post-translational modification of GTP-binding proteins which reg...

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease causing great morbidity and mortality in the Western world. To increase the anti-inflammatory action and decrease adverse effects of glucocorticoids (PLP), a nanomedicinal liposomal formulation of this drug (L-PLP) was developed and intravenously applied at a dose of 15 mg/kg PLP to a rabbit model of ather...

Our recent studies show specific localization of long-circulating liposomes (LCL) within the endosomal/lysosomal compartment of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM). Based on this finding, the present study aims to investigate whether clinically applied LCL formulations such as Doxil (LCL-encapsulated doxorubicin), have alternative mechanisms of acti...

This study evaluates whether the inhibitory effects of prednisolone phosphate (PLP) encapsulated in long-circulating liposomes (LCL-PLP) on tumor growth and tumor angiogenesis described previously can be generalized to other types of glucocorticoids (GC) encapsulated in LCL (LCL-GC). Four types of synthetic GC, i.e. budesonide disodium phosphate (B...

Prednisolone disodium phosphate (PLP) encapsulated in long-circulating liposomes (LCL) (LCL-PLP) inhibited tumor growth by 80-90% after a single dose of 20 mg/kg, whereas PLP in the free form was completely ineffective at the same single dose. To generalize our findings with LCL-PLP, the antitumor activity and side effects of LCL containing synthet...

Prednisolone phosphate (PLP) encapsulated in long-circulating liposomes (LCLs) (LCL-PLP) exerts antitumor activity through the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. It is known that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) play a crucial role in tumor growth as they are actively involved in promoting and maintaining tumor angiogenesis. To gain more insight...

Glucocorticoids can inhibit solid tumor growth via downregulation of tumor-associated inflammation/angiogenesis. In this minireview we describe the possible mechanisms of glucocorticoid action in tumor growth inhibition. We also present an overview of the current status of tumor-targeted glucocorticoid delivery. It appears that long-circulating lip...

Glucocorticoids (GC) have inhibitory actions on solid tumor growth due to suppressive effects on tumor angiogenesis and inflammation. When evaluating the preclinical studies on solid tumor growth inhibition, it appears that GC-induced antitumor effects are achieved by using substantially higher doses than the minimal doses needed to achieve inhibit...

Prednisolone phosphate (PLP) encapsulated in long-circulating liposomes can inhibit tumor growth after intravenous administration (i.v.). These antitumor effects of liposomal PLP are the result of the tumor-targeting property of the liposome formulation. The mechanism by which liposomal PLP inhibits tumor growth is unclear. We investigated the effe...

Glucorticoids are potent drugs that have a multitude of pharmacological actions both at genomic and non-genomic levels. Many of the diseases in which glucorticoids are routinely administered are featured by angiogenesis and enhanced capillary permeability, permitting targeted delivery using long-circulating drug delivery systems. By encapsulation o...