Jung Wook Park
Positions:
Rollie Assistant Professorship of Correlative Pathology
Pathology
School of Medicine
Assistant Professor in Pathology
Pathology
School of Medicine
Assistant Research Professor of Cell Biology
Cell Biology
School of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
Duke Cancer Institute
School of Medicine
Education:
Ph.D. 2013
University of Wisconsin - Madison
Grants:
Unveiling the roles of neuroendocrine cells in prostate cancer development
Administered By
Pathology
Awarded By
Mike Slive Foundation
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Start Date
End Date
Defining the Essential Determinants of Prostate Cancer Differentiation States
Administered By
Pathology
Awarded By
National Institutes of Health
Role
Principal Investigator
Start Date
End Date
Defining the Essential Determinants of Prostate Cancer Differentiation States
Administered By
Pathology
Awarded By
National Institutes of Health
Role
Principal Investigator
Start Date
End Date
Interrupting the aberrant cancer development sequence in epithelial cancer progression
Administered By
Pathology
Awarded By
Prostate Cancer Foundation
Role
Principal Investigator
Start Date
End Date
Transcriptional reprogramming of lethal small cell prostate cancer
Administered By
Pathology
Awarded By
Department of Defense
Role
Principal Investigator
Start Date
End Date
Publications:
Targeting RET Kinase in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer.
The increased treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with second-generation antiandrogen therapies (ADT) has coincided with a greater incidence of lethal, aggressive variant prostate cancer (AVPC) tumors that have lost dependence on androgen receptor (AR) signaling. These AR-independent tumors may also transdifferentiate to express neuroendocrine lineage markers and are termed neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). Recent evidence suggests kinase signaling may be an important driver of NEPC. To identify targetable kinases in NEPC, we performed global phosphoproteomics comparing several AR-independent to AR-dependent prostate cancer cell lines and identified multiple altered signaling pathways, including enrichment of RET kinase activity in the AR-independent cell lines. Clinical NEPC patient samples and NEPC patient-derived xenografts displayed upregulated RET transcript and RET pathway activity. Genetic knockdown or pharmacologic inhibition of RET kinase in multiple mouse and human models of NEPC dramatically reduced tumor growth and decreased cell viability. Our results suggest that targeting RET in NEPC tumors with high RET expression could be an effective treatment option. Currently, there are limited treatment options for patients with aggressive neuroendocrine prostate cancer and none are curative. IMPLICATIONS: Identification of aberrantly expressed RET kinase as a driver of tumor growth in multiple models of NEPC provides a significant rationale for testing the clinical application of RET inhibitors in patients with AVPC.
Authors
VanDeusen, HR; Ramroop, JR; Morel, KL; Bae, SY; Sheahan, AV; Sychev, Z; Lau, NA; Cheng, LC; Tan, VM; Li, Z; Petersen, A; Lee, JK; Park, JW; Yang, R; Hwang, JH; Coleman, I; Witte, ON; Morrissey, C; Corey, E; Nelson, PS; Ellis, L; Drake, JM
MLA Citation
VanDeusen, Halena R., et al. “Targeting RET Kinase in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer.” Mol Cancer Res, vol. 18, no. 8, Aug. 2020, pp. 1176–88. Pubmed, doi:10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-19-1245.
URI
https://scholars.duke.edu/individual/pub1446944
PMID
32461304
Source
pubmed
Published In
Mol Cancer Res
Volume
18
Published Date
Start Page
1176
End Page
1188
DOI
10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-19-1245
High incidence of female reproductive tract cancers in FA-deficient HPV16-transgenic mice correlates with E7's induction of DNA damage response, an activity mediated by E7's inactivation of pocket proteins.
Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder caused by defects in a DNA damage repair system, the FA pathway. FA patients frequently develop squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) at sites that are associated with human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven cancer including the female reproductive tract. To assess experimentally whether FA deficiency increases susceptibility to HPV-associated cervical/vaginal cancer, we monitored cancer incidence in the female lower reproductive tract of FA-deficient mice expressing HPV16 oncogenes, E6 and/or E7. FA deficiency specifically increased the incidence of cancers in mice expressing E7; but this effect was not observed in mice just expressing E6. We also observed that E7, but not E6, induced DNA damage as scored by induction of γ-H2AX and 53BP1 (p53 binding protein 1) nuclear foci, and this induction was heightened in FA-deficient tissue. Finally, we discovered that this induction of DNA damage responses was recapitulated in mice deficient in expression of 'pocket' proteins, pRb, p107 and p130, which are established targets of E7. Our findings support the hypothesis that E7 induces cancer by causing DNA damage at least in part through the inactivation of pocket proteins. This hypothesis explains why a deficiency in DNA damage repair would increase susceptibility to E7-driven cancer.
Authors
Park, JW; Shin, M-K; Lambert, PF
MLA Citation
Park, J. W., et al. “High incidence of female reproductive tract cancers in FA-deficient HPV16-transgenic mice correlates with E7's induction of DNA damage response, an activity mediated by E7's inactivation of pocket proteins.” Oncogene, vol. 33, no. 26, June 2014, pp. 3383–91. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/onc.2013.327.
URI
https://scholars.duke.edu/individual/pub1437957
PMID
24013229
Source
pubmed
Published In
Oncogene
Volume
33
Published Date
Start Page
3383
End Page
3391
DOI
10.1038/onc.2013.327
A genetically defined disease model reveals that urothelial cells can initiate divergent bladder cancer phenotypes.
Small cell carcinoma of the bladder (SCCB) is a rare and lethal phenotype of bladder cancer. The pathogenesis and molecular features are unknown. Here, we established a genetically engineered SCCB model and a cohort of patient SCCB and urothelial carcinoma samples to characterize molecular similarities and differences between bladder cancer phenotypes. We demonstrate that SCCB shares a urothelial origin with other bladder cancer phenotypes by showing that urothelial cells driven by a set of defined oncogenic factors give rise to a mixture of tumor phenotypes, including small cell carcinoma, urothelial carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma. Tumor-derived single-cell clones also give rise to both SCCB and urothelial carcinoma in xenografts. Despite this shared urothelial origin, clinical SCCB samples have a distinct transcriptional profile and a unique transcriptional regulatory network. Using the transcriptional profile from our cohort, we identified cell surface proteins (CSPs) associated with the SCCB phenotype. We found that the majority of SCCB samples have PD-L1 expression in both tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, suggesting that immune checkpoint inhibitors could be a treatment option for SCCB. We further demonstrate that our genetically engineered tumor model is a representative tool for investigating CSPs in SCCB by showing that it shares a similar a CSP profile with clinical samples and expresses SCCB-up-regulated CSPs at both the mRNA and protein levels. Our findings reveal distinct molecular features of SCCB and provide a transcriptional dataset and a preclinical model for further investigating SCCB biology.
Authors
MLA Citation
Wang, Liang, et al. “A genetically defined disease model reveals that urothelial cells can initiate divergent bladder cancer phenotypes.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, vol. 117, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 563–72. Pubmed, doi:10.1073/pnas.1915770117.
URI
https://scholars.duke.edu/individual/pub1424500
PMID
31871155
Source
pubmed
Published In
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Volume
117
Published Date
Start Page
563
End Page
572
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1915770117
Targeting cellular heterogeneity with CXCR2 blockade for the treatment of therapy-resistant prostate cancer.
Hormonal therapy targeting androgen receptor (AR) is initially effective to treat prostate cancer (PCa), but it eventually fails. It has been hypothesized that cellular heterogeneity of PCa, consisting of AR+ luminal tumor cells and AR- neuroendocrine (NE) tumor cells, may contribute to therapy failure. Here, we describe the successful purification of NE cells from primary fresh human prostate adenocarcinoma based on the cell surface receptor C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2). Functional studies revealed CXCR2 to be a driver of the NE phenotype, including loss of AR expression, lineage plasticity, and resistance to hormonal therapy. CXCR2-driven NE cells were critical for the tumor microenvironment by providing a survival niche for the AR+ luminal cells. We demonstrate that the combination of CXCR2 inhibition and AR targeting is an effective treatment strategy in mouse xenograft models. Such a strategy has the potential to overcome therapy resistance caused by tumor cell heterogeneity.
Authors
Li, Y; He, Y; Butler, W; Xu, L; Chang, Y; Lei, K; Zhang, H; Zhou, Y; Gao, AC; Zhang, Q; Taylor, DG; Cheng, D; Farber-Katz, S; Karam, R; Landrith, T; Li, B; Wu, S; Hsuan, V; Yang, Q; Hu, H; Chen, X; Flowers, M; McCall, SJ; Lee, JK; Smith, BA; Park, JW; Goldstein, AS; Witte, ON; Wang, Q; Rettig, MB; Armstrong, AJ; Cheng, Q; Huang, J
MLA Citation
Li, Yanjing, et al. “Targeting cellular heterogeneity with CXCR2 blockade for the treatment of therapy-resistant prostate cancer.” Sci Transl Med, vol. 11, no. 521, Dec. 2019. Pubmed, doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aax0428.
URI
https://scholars.duke.edu/individual/pub1423084
PMID
31801883
Source
pubmed
Published In
Sci Transl Med
Volume
11
Published Date
DOI
10.1126/scitranslmed.aax0428
Stem cell-directed pan-cancer analysis reveals a human adult stem cell signature that defines aggressive epithelial cancer subtypes.
Authors
Smith, BA; Balanis, NG; Nanjundiah, A; Sheu, KM; Zhang, Q; Park, JW; Thompson, M; Huang, J; Graeber, TG; Witte, ON
MLA Citation
Smith, Bryan A., et al. “Stem cell-directed pan-cancer analysis reveals a human adult stem cell signature that defines aggressive epithelial cancer subtypes.” Cancer Research, vol. 78, no. 16, AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH, 2018, pp. 119–119.
URI
https://scholars.duke.edu/individual/pub1401439
Source
wos
Published In
Cancer Research
Volume
78
Published Date
Start Page
119
End Page
119
Research Areas:
Muser Mentor

Rollie Assistant Professorship of Correlative Pathology
Contact:
Duke Box 103872, 905 South Lasalle Street, Durham, NC 27710
Duke Box 103872, 905 South Lasalle Street, Durham, NC 27710