HyeRan Gwak

Dr. HyeRan Gwak

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

8Years (2019-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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2 September 2019 in Cancers
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
YKYOUNG-HO KIM
YOUNG-HO KIM
HKHyun-Kyoung Kim
Hyun-Kyoung Kim
HKHee Yeon Kim
Hee Yeon Kim
HGHyeRan Gwak
HyeRan Gwak
SBSeung-Hyun Bae
Seung-Hyun Bae
KHKyeong-Man Hong
Kyeong-Man Hong
Background: Cancers with copy-gain drug-target genes are excellent candidates for targeted therapy. In order to search for new predictive marker genes, we investigated the correlation between sensitivity to targeted drugs and the copy gain of candidate target genes in NCI-60 cells. Methods: For eight candidate genes showing copy gains in NCI-60 cells identified in our previous study, sensitivity to corresponding target drugs was tested on cells showing copy gains of the candidate genes. Results: Breast cancer cells with Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK)-copy-gain showed a significantly higher sensitivity to the target inhibitor, FAK inhibitor 14 (F14). In addition, treatment of F14 or FAK-knockdown showed a specific apoptotic effect only in breast cancer cells showing FAK-copy-gain. Expression-profiling analyses on inducible FAK shRNA-transfected cells showed that FAK/AKT signaling might be important to the apoptotic effect by target inhibition. An animal experiment employing a mouse xenograft model also showed a significant growth-inhibitory effect of F14 on breast cancer cells showing FAK-copy-gain, but not on those without FAK-copy-gain. Conclusion: FAK-copy-gain may be a predictive marker for FAK inhibition therapy in breast cancer.