Biographical Info

Research Areas

Mechanisms of carcinogenesis and its prevention, including development of new animal models for colon ad prostate cancers as well as studies on the inhibition of carcinogenesis by tea constituents, tocopherols, and their combination with commonly used drugs. Research is being conducted in animal models, on molecular investigation with cell lines, and in humans.

Research Highlights

• Development of animal models for colon and prostate cancers using humanized CYP1A mice and PhIP (a dietary carcinogen) to study dietary cancer prevention.
• Elucidation of the cancer preventive activities and mechanisms of action of green tea polyphenols.
• Demonstration of the broad cancer prevention activities of tocopherols, especially the higher activity of d-tocopherol than g-tocopherol, and the ineffectiveness of a-tocopherol.
• Elucidation of the inhibition of the interactions between cancer cells and myeloid derived suppressor cells in vivo and in vitro by curcumin.
• Conducting translational research on tocopherols in prostate cancer patients.

Scholarly Activities

• Conduct research as described above.
• Teach a course on “Diet, Nutrition and Disease Prevention in Pharmacy Practice” and lecture in the course “Molecular Biology and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.”
• Serve as a Leader of the Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
• Serve on editorial board of several scientific journals and currently editing a special volume on “Tea and Health” for Pharmacological Research.

Recent Publications

1. Ashok, Y, Vela-Rodríguez, C, Yang, CS, Alanen, HI, Liu, F, Paschal, BM, Lehtiö, L. Reconstitution of the DTX3L-PARP9 complex reveals determinants for high affinity heterodimerization and multimeric assembly. Biochem J. 2022; :. doi: 10.1042/BCJ20210722. PubMed PMID:35037691
2. Ko, TP, Wang, YC, Yang, CS, Hou, MH, Chen, CJ, Chiu, YF, Chen, Y. Crystal structure and functional implication of bacterial STING. Nat Commun. 2022;13 (1):26. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26583-3. PubMed PMID:35013136
3. Lee, D, Lee, E, Jang, S, Kim, K, Cho, E, Mun, SJ, Son, W, Jeon, HI, Kim, HK, Jeong, YJ et al.. Discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3364c-Derived Small Molecules as Potential Therapeutic Agents to Target SNX9 for Sepsis. J Med Chem. 2022;65 (1):386-408. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c01551. PubMed PMID:34982557
4. Kim, JS, Kim, YR, Jang, S, Wang, SG, Cho, E, Mun, SJ, Jeon, HI, Kim, HK, Min, SJ, Yang, CS et al.. Mito-TIPTP Increases Mitochondrial Function by Repressing the Rubicon-p22phox Interaction in Colitis-Induced Mice. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021;10 (12):. doi: 10.3390/antiox10121954. PubMed PMID:34943057 PubMed Central PMC8750874
5. Han, JH, Lee, HJ, Woo, SH, Park, YK, Choi, GY, Heo, ES, Kim, JS, Lee, JH, Park, CA, Lee, WD et al.. Effectiveness and safety of acupotomy on lumbar spinal stenosis: A pragmatic randomized, controlled, pilot clinical trial: A study protocol. Medicine (Baltimore). 2021;100 (51):e28175. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000028175. PubMed PMID:34941071 PubMed Central PMC8702287
6. Wong, CW, Ko, LN, Huang, HJ, Yang, CS, Hsu, SH. Engineered Bacteriorhodopsin May Induce Lung Cancer Cell Cycle Arrest and Suppress Their Proliferation and Migration. Molecules. 2021;26 (23):. doi: 10.3390/molecules26237344. PubMed PMID:34885925 PubMed Central PMC8659022
7. Liu, GS, Zhang, ZX, Su, GZ, Wang, SY, Yang, CS, Yu, HB, Wang, YN, Li, Y. Two new diterpenoids from the stems of Rhododendron dauricum as GABA_A receptor agonists. J Asian Nat Prod Res. 2021; :1-8. doi: 10.1080/10286020.2021.2007089. PubMed PMID:34854776