Donghoon Yoon, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Biology Faculty Rank: Associate Professor Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Medicine Department: Internal Med Myeloma Research

Cancer Research Interest

• Disease Site Focus: Multiple Myeloma
• Research Focus Area: Prevention
• Type of Research: Basic
• Research Interest Statement: My research is investigating the pathophysiology of multiple myeloma (MM), a B cell cancer characterized by proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow, presence of monoclonal serum immunoglobulin, and osteolytic lesions. MM studies demonstrate that MM causes severe lytic bone lesions by enhancing osteoclast activity/suppressing osteoblast activity. We are studying the factors of bone metabolism that may influence MM growth. We are also interested in the early detection of MM induced bone disease (MMBD). The current methods focused on either MM cell activity or structural damage of bone. Our recent clinical observation demonstrated that a significant portion (43%) of MMBD patients heal the large bone lesions after therapy while the rest do not. It leads us to hypothesize that MMBD may be cured by the treatment when they are on the right stage, thus MMBD may need to define stages based on the status of osteolysis process. We employed a newly developed collagen hybridizing peptide (CHP) to detect collagen degradation that is an early stage on the process and demonstrated that in situ imaging with CHP detects MMBD and highly correlated with MM cell numbers. Currently, we are defining the MMBD stages that CHP detects during MM development. Additionally, we have been developing various Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) mouse models from MM, Lymphoma, and non-small cell lung cancer. We have developed a unique humanized mouse strain that is susceptible to human tumor cells/tissue. We have been successfully developing various PDX models.

Contact Information

• Email Address: DYOON@UAMS.EDU
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Active Grants

• Calcium & Bone Health Institute – AWD00055821
  “Study of Sigma Anti-Bonding Calcium (SAC) Role(s) in Multiple Myeloma and Cutaneous Wound Healing”
  Principal Investigator
  6/20/2023 – 6/19/2028

Recent Publications

• Jo S, Pearson E, Yoon D, [et al.]. Self-Assembly of Microstructured Protein Coatings with Programmable Functionality for Fluorescent Biosensors. ACS applied materials & interfaces. 2024. PMID: 39501757.
• Yu E, Oh SW, Park SH, [et al., including Yoon D]. The Pigmentation of Blue Light Is Mediated by Both Melanogenesis Activation and Autophagy Inhibition through OPN3-TRPV1. The Journal of investigative dermatology. 2024. PMID: 39241981.
• Mehdi SH, Xu YZ, Shultz LD, [et al., including Yoon D]. Development of New Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Mouse Models. Cancers. 2024 16(17). PMID: 39272864. PMCID: PMC11394112.
• McCrury M, Swafford K, Shuttleworth SL, [et al., including Yoon D]. Bifunctional inhibitor reveals NEK2 as a therapeutic target and regulator of oncogenic pathways in lymphoma. Molecular cancer therapeutics. 2023. PMID: 37816504. PMCID: PMC10932871.
• Mehdi SH, Gentry AC, Chung CP, Yoon D. The Synthetic Collagen-Binding Peptide NIPEP-OSS Delays Mouse Myeloma Progression. Cancers. 2023 15(9). PMID: 37173940. PMCID: PMC10177053.
• Mehdi SH, Morris CA, Yoon D. An Improved Animal Model of Multiple Myeloma Bone Disease. Cancers. 2021 13(17). PMID: 34503090. PMCID: PMC8428359.
• Mehdi SH, Nafees S, Mehdi SJ, [et al., including Yoon D]. Animal Models of Multiple Myeloma Bone Disease. Frontiers in genetics. 2021 12:640954. PMID: 34163520. PMCID: PMC8215650.