Donghoon Yoon, PhD

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

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 – CBHI CRA C23992
  “Study of Sigma Anti-Bonding Calcium (SAC) Role(s) in Multiple Myeloma and Erythropoietin-Induced Osteoporosis”
  Principal Investigator
  05/21/20 – 06/30/23

Publications

• Tan JY, Li Y, Chamani F, [et al., including Yoon D]. Experimental Validation of Diffraction Lithography for Fabrication of Solid Microneedles. Materials (Basel, Switzerland). 2022 15(24). PMID: 36556744. PMCID: PMC9787912.
• 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.
• Hildebrandt GC, Berno T, Gurule A, [et al., including Yoon D]. Effect of low-dose bortezomib on bone formation in smouldering multiple myeloma. British journal of haematology. 2019 184(2):308-310. PMID: 29574687.
• Bennink LL, Li Y, Kim B, [et al., including Yoon D]. Visualizing collagen proteolysis by peptide hybridization: From 3D cell culture to in vivo imaging. Biomaterials. 2018 183:67-76. PMID: 30149231.
• Zangari M, Yoo H, Shin IJ, [et al., including Yoon D]. Surgical thyroparathyroidectomy prevents progression of 5TGM1 murine multiple myeloma in vivo. Journal of bone oncology. 2018 12:19-22. PMID: 29556454. PMCID: PMC5854927.
• Zangari M, Yoo H, Shin I, [et al., including Yoon D]. Thymic PTH Increases After Thyroparathyroidectomy in C57BL/KaLwRij Mice. Endocrinology. 2018 159(4):1561-1569. PMID: 29381784. PMCID: PMC5839736.
• Johann DJ Jr, Steliga M, Shin IJ, [et al., including Yoon D]. Liquid biopsy and its role in an advanced clinical trial for lung cancer. Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.). 2018 243(3):262-271. PMID: 29405770. PMCID: PMC5813874.
• Mohan M, Samant RS, Yoon D, [et al.]. Extensive Remineralization of Large Pelvic Lytic Lesions Following Total Therapy Treatment in Patients With Multiple Myeloma. Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research. 2017 32(6):1261-1266. PMID: 28240368. PMCID: PMC5466479.
• Divoky V, Song J, Horvathova M, [et al., including Yoon D]. Delayed hemoglobin switching and perinatal neocytolysis in mice with gain-of-function erythropoietin receptor. Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany). 2016 94(5):597-608. PMID: 26706855. PMCID: PMC5083035.