Itzen Aguiñiga Sánchez, Ph.D.

Itzen Aguiñiga Sánchez, Ph.D.

Specialty: Antineoplastic activity of plant compounds, experimental oncology, and regenerative/mesenchymal stem cell applications

Dr. Itzen Aguiñiga Sánchez is a biomedical researcher focused on the discovery and translational evaluation of plant-derived antineoplastic compounds (notably from Sechium edule and related Cucurbitaceae), oncology-oriented nutraceutical strategies, and the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in tissue repair. Her work spans in-vitro and in-vivo models of leukemia and solid tumors, apoptosis/immune modulation, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms, and early clinical applications (e.g., periodontal regeneration with dental pulp MSCs). She has also led academic training in biology and biochemistry at UNAM (FES Zaragoza), supervising theses and fostering rigorous scientific practice.

Research Lines & Contributions

  • Plant bioactives against cancer: phytochemical characterization, apoptosis induction in leukemia and HeLa cells, microencapsulation for delivery.
  • Onco-immunology & nutraceuticals: casein/caseinate as modulators of hematopoiesis, cytokines, chemoresistance pathways, and survival in leukemia models.
  • Healthy aging & metabolism: antioxidant status, telomeres, and inflammation in older adults with metabolic syndrome; clinical/parametric outcomes of Sechium edule intake.
  • MSC-based and regenerative approaches: topical MSC applications for chronic ulcers; dental pulp MSCs for periodontal disease; stem/progenitor cell mobilization.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Sciences (Biology) — Colegio de Postgraduados (2014–2017; honors)
  • M.Sc. in Sciences (Biology) — Colegio de Postgraduados (2010–2013)
  • Master’s in Nutrition & Food–Drug Interactions — Universitat de Barcelona (2020–2022)
  • B.Sc. in Biology — UNAM, FES Zaragoza (2004–2008)
  • Ed.D. (in progress) — UTEL University (2023– )

Honors & Distinctions

  • Sistema Nacional de Investigadores (SNI), Level I (2017–2024)
  • Multiple awards for research posters/articles and institutional recognitions (UNAM/CONACyT)

Mentorship & Teaching (selected)

  • Undergraduate/graduate thesis direction in oncology, nutraceuticals, and biochemistry
  • Curriculum leadership and laboratory manuals for Biology and Medical programs (UNAM, FES Zaragoza)

Highlighted Scientific Publications (normalized to English)

Journals include JCR-indexed titles with DOI where available. Formatting: Authors. Title. Journal Volume(Issue):pages (Year). DOI (if listed).

  1. Cadena-Iñiguez J., Soto-Hernández M., Torres-Salas A., Aguiñiga I., et al. The antiproliferative effect of chayote varieties (Sechium edule) on tumor cell lines. J Med Plants Res 7(8):455–460 (2013). doi:10.5897/JMPR12.866
  2. Ramos-Mandujano G., Weiss-Steider B., Melo B., Córdova Y., Ledesma E., Aguiñiga I., et al. Alpha, beta and kappa caseins inhibit proliferation of myeloid cell lines and exhibit distinct differentiation properties. Immunobiology 213:133–141 (2008). doi:10.1016/j.imbio.2007.07.004
  3. Rodríguez-Solano L., Aguiñiga I., López-Ortiz M., et al. Bis(2-methylbenzimidazolyl)amine-derived copper complexes and their antineoplastic activity. Eur J Inorg Chem 2011(23):3454–3460 (2011). doi:10.1002/ejic.201100301
  4. Santiago-Osorio E., Mora L., Bautista M., Montesinos J., Martínez I., Ramos G., Aguiñiga I., et al. Sodium caseinate induces macrophage colony-stimulating factor secretion from neutrophils. Immunobiology 215:332–339 (2010). doi:10.1016/j.imbio.2009.03.003
  5. Domínguez-Meléndez V., Silvestre-Santana O., Moreno-Fierros L., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Sodium caseinate induces mouse granulopoiesis. Inflammation Research 61(4):367–373 (2012). doi:10.1007/s00011-011-0421-7
  6. Ledesma-Martínez E., Pérez-Cordero C., Córdova-Galaviz Y., Sánchez-Téllez G., Huerta-Yépez S., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Casein induces apoptosis of WEHI-3 leukemic cells and increases survival in a leukemic mouse model. Oncology Letters 4(3):461–466 (2012). doi:10.3892/ol.2012.758
  7. Luviano A., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Demare P., et al. Antineoplastic activity of rinvanil and phenylacetylrinvanil in leukemia cell lines. Oncology Letters 7(5):1651–1656 (2014). doi:10.3892/ol.2014.1958
  8. Córdova-Galaviz Y., Ledesma-Martínez E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Sodium caseinate increases survival in a leukemic mouse J774 model. In Vivo 28(5):819–825 (2014).
  9. Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Soto-Hernández M., Cadena-Iñiguez J., et al. Fruit extract from a Sechium edule hybrid induces apoptosis in leukemic cell lines but not in normal cells. Nutrition and Cancer 67(2):250–257 (2015). doi:10.1080/01635581.2015.989370
  10. Santiago-Osorio E., Ledesma-Martínez E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Sodium caseinate (CasNa) induces mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells in BALB/c mice. Med Sci Monit Basic Res 21:206–212 (2015). doi:10.12659/MSMBR.895442
  11. Castillo I., Suwalsky M., Sánchez-Eguía B., Gallardo M., Dukes N., Santiago-Osorio E., Aguiñiga I., Rivera-Martínez A. Structural and functional effects of benzimidazole/thioether-copper complexes on membranes. J Inorg Biochem 156:98–104 (2016). doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2015.12.022
  12. Domínguez-Meléndez V., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Moreno-Fierros L., et al. Sodium caseinate increases B-lymphocyte counts in mice. Biomédica 37(4):571–576 (2017). doi:10.7705/biomedica.v37i4.3604
  13. Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Cadena-Íñiguez J., Santiago-Osorio E., et al. Chemical analyses and toxicity of Sechium edule var. nigrum spinosum fruit methanol extract. Pharmaceutical Biology 55(1):1638–1645 (2017). doi:10.1080/13880209.2017.1316746
  14. Salazar-Aguilar S., Ruiz-Posadas L., Cadena-Iñiguez J., Soto-Hernández M., Santiago-Osorio E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Sechium edule cultivar with antiproliferative potential in HeLa cells. Nutrients 9(8):798 (2017). doi:10.3390/nu9080798
  15. Suwalsky M., Castillo I., Sánchez-Eguía B., Gallardo M., Dukes N., Santiago-Osorio E., Aguiñiga I., Rivera-Martínez A. In vitro effects of benzimidazole/thioether–copper complexes on human erythrocytes. J Inorg Biochem 178:87–93 (2018). doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2017.10.009
  16. Rosado-Pérez J., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Arista-Ugalde T.L., Santiago-Osorio E., Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Biological significance of oxidative stress; fruits as edible antioxidants. Curr Pharm Des 24(40):4807–4824 (2018). doi:10.2174/1381612824666190114164758
  17. Weiss-Steider B., Córdova Y., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Sodium caseinate and α-casein inhibit proliferation of murine myeloid 32D cl3 via TNF-α. Biomédica 39(3) (2019). doi:10.7705/biomedica.v39i3.4094
  18. Rosado-Pérez J., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Santiago-Osorio E., Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Effect of Sechium edule var. nigrum spinosum on oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory markers in older adults with metabolic syndrome. Antioxidants 8(5):146 (2019). doi:10.3390/antiox8050146
  19. Ledesma-Martínez E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Weiss-Steider B., Rivera-Martínez A.R., Santiago-Osorio E. Casein and casein-derived peptides as antileukemic agents. Journal of Oncology 2019:8150967 (2019). doi:10.1155/2019/8150967
  20. Cadena-Iñiguez J., Riviello-Flores M.L., Soto-Hernández R.M., Ruiz-Posadas L.M., Gómez-Merino F.C., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Arévalo-Galarza L. Functionally active metabolites in two chayote cultivars. Acta Horticulturae 1256:231–238 (2019). doi:10.17660/ActaHortic.2019.1256.32
  21. Gavia-García G., Rosado-Pérez J., Aguiñiga I., Santiago-Osorio E., Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Sechium edule and telomerase/antioxidant capacity in older adults with metabolic syndrome. Antioxidants 9(7):634 (2020). doi:10.3390/antiox9070634
  22. Hernández-Monjaraz B., Santiago-Osorio E., Ledesma-Martínez E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Dental pulp MSCs as a treatment for periodontal disease in older adults. Stem Cells International 2020:8890873 (2020). doi:10.1155/2020/8890873
  23. Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Soto-Hernández M., Cadena-Iñiguez J., Suwalsky M., Colina J.R., Castillo I., Santiago-Osorio E. Phytochemical analysis and antioxidant/anti-inflammatory capacity of Sechium hybrid fruit extracts. Molecules 25(20):4637 (2020).
  24. Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Meléndez-Ibarra F.M., Ledesma-Martínez E., Weiss-Steider B., Fajardo-Orduña G.R., Rangel-Corona R., Santiago-Osorio E. Improved survival of leukemic mice treated with sodium caseinate plus daunorubicin without toxicity. Journal of Oncology 2021:6635650 (2021). doi:10.1155/2021/6635650
  25. Gavia-García G., Rosado-Pérez J., Arista-Ugalde T.L., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Santiago-Osorio E., Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Telomere length, oxidative stress, and metabolic syndrome components in aging. Biology 10(4):253 (2021). doi:10.3390/biology10040253
  26. Fajardo-Orduña G.R., Ledesma-Martínez E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Inhibitors of chemoresistance pathways with Ara-C to overcome MDR in AML (mini-review). Int J Mol Sci 22:4955 (2021). doi:10.3390/ijms22094955
  27. Salazar-Aguilar S., Ruiz-Posadas L.M., Cadena-Iñiguez J., Soto-Hernández M., Santiago-Osorio E., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Microencapsulation of Sechium edule extract with antineoplastic activity. Applied Sciences 12:24 (2022). doi:10.3390/app12010024024
  28. Cadena-Iñiguez J., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Uriostegui-Arias M.T., Santiago-Osorio E., Ruiz-Posadas L.D.M., Soto-Hernández M. Antiproliferative effect of Sechium edule cv. Madre Negra extracts on breast cancer in vitro. Separations 9(9):230 (2022). doi:10.3390/separations9090230
  29. Delgado-Tiburcio E.E., Cadena-Iñiguez J., Santiago-Osorio E., Ruiz-Posadas L.D.M., Castillo-Juárez I., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Soto-Hernández M. Pharmacokinetics and biological activity of cucurbitacins. Pharmaceuticals 15(11):1325 (2022). doi:10.3390/ph15111325
  30. Arista-Ugalde T.L., Santiago-Osorio E., Monroy-García A., Rosado-Pérez J., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Cadena-Iñiguez J., … Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect of powdered Sechium edule in older adults with metabolic syndrome. Antioxidants 11(6):1076 (2022). doi:10.3390/antiox11061076
  31. Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Ledesma-Martínez E., Lara-Castañeda J.L., Meléndez-Ibarra F., Weiss-Steider B., Soto-Cruz I., Santiago-Osorio E. Sodium caseinate with daunorubicin or cytarabine improves survival in long-established leukemia. Cancer Diagnosis & Prognosis 2(4):496 (2022). doi:10.21873/cdp.10133
  32. Rivera-Martínez A.R., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Cadena-Iñiguez J., et al. Fruit extract of Sechium chinantlense induces apoptosis in HeLa cells. Nutrients 15(3):667 (2023). doi:10.3390/nu15030667
  33. Hernández-Álvarez D., Rosado-Pérez J., Gavia-García G., Arista-Ugalde T.L., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Santiago-Osorio E., Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Aging, exercise, telomeres, and sarcopenia (narrative review). Biomedicines 11(2):598 (2023). doi:10.3390/biomedicines11020598
  34. Gavia-García G., Rosado-Pérez J., Arista-Ugalde T.L., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Santiago-Osorio E., Mendoza-Núñez V.M. Sechium edule consumption has antioxidant effects and prevents telomere attrition in older adults with metabolic syndrome. Redox Report 28(1):2207323 (2023). doi:10.1080/13510002.2023.2207323

Additional Indexed Publications (national/regional)

  • Santiago-Osorio E., Ledesma-Martínez E., Weiss-Steider B., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Advances in casein-mediated regulation of hematopoietic cell proliferation/differentiation. Revista de Hematología 11(4):193–198 (2010).
  • Soto-Hernández R.M., Ruiz-Posadas L.M., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., Santiago-Osorio E., et al. Use of Mexican chayotes for treating diseases of public interest. Agroproductividad (Suppl.):51–53 (2016).
  • Ledesma-Martínez E., Pérez-Cordero C.L., Sánchez-Téllez G., Aguiñiga-Sánchez I., et al. Sodium caseinate differentially modulates proliferation/viability of WEHI-3 leukemia vs. normal hematopoietic cells. Vertientes 16(1):5–8 (2013).

Patents (Mexico, IMPI)

  • Vegetal compositions with extracts of Sechium chinantlense and S. compositum for antineoplastic use. IMPI Patent No. 348744 (2017).
  • Use of sodium caseinate as an antineoplastic agent. IMPI Patent No. 349966 (2017).
  • Crude extract of a Sechium edule hybrid: extraction method and antineoplastic formulation. IMPI Patent No. 357329 (2018).
  • Plant variety protection: Sechium edule “Perla Negra”. SNICS Folio 2180 (2019).
  • Compounds based on Sechium spp. as bone regenerators; use in periodontal disease. IMPI Patent No. 12515 (2020).
  • Vegetal compositions from Sechium edule (and hybrid) for mobilization of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. IMPI Patent No. 47630 (2021).
  • Pharmaceutical composition of sodium caseinate with antineoplastic agents for cancer treatment. IMPI Patent No. 395217 (2022).