Speakers - 2024

Biography

Ms. Ioana Cucu is a 6th-year medical student at “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, Romania. She is interested in finding therapeutic strategies especially for cardiac regeneration. She is also an aficionado of the molecular mechanisms underlying signaling pathways regulation. Her published papers (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3496-7562) scrutinize therapeutic targets not only to prevent/ treat different neoplasms and inflammation in cardiovascular diseases but also to promote cardiomyocyte/ salivary gland regeneration. These studies include crosstalks between signaling pathways and protein-protein interactions (PPIs) in diverse cell types with several applications in regenerative medicine.

Abstract

The management of immune/ inflammatory responses is paramount to prevent chronicity and induce tissue homeostasis. Therapeutic approaches targeting nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), Hippo, and mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) have offered a framework to implement novel therapies to modulate cell-specific immune responses. An accumulating body of evidence highlights the crucial roles of signaling molecules to modulate inflammation damage, apoptosis, proliferation, and cell survival upon immune-related injury. Manipulation of cell plasticity to promote tissue/organ regeneration and repair via multiple signaling networks represents a state-of-the-art therapeutic strategy. Moreover, the involvement of the immune system is a well-recognized component in the pathophysiology of inflammatory cardiovascular diseases, which represent one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The expression of inflammatory markers, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), d-dimers, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2, and long pentraxin 3 (PTX3), correlates with the severity of cardiovascular diseases and other inflammatory-associated pathologies. NF-κB serves an important role in inflammation, infection/immune responses, and cancer pathology. Crucially, NF-κB inhibition is often associated with the alleviation of inflammatory responses, as activation of NF-κB target gene expression promotes inflammation, cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and metastasis. Besides, the Hippo signaling pathway is a critical governor of cardiac development and regeneration, playing inhibitory roles in pro-inflammatory responses. Also, mTOR mediators communicate with Hippo and NF-κB signaling networks to induce anti-inflammatory/ pro-inflammatory effects, in a crosstalk-dependent fashion. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of NF-κB, Hippo, and mTOR signaling pathways underlying therapeutic perspectives might represent a promising tool for the discovery of potential drugs in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.