Pharmaceutical Sciences

Education

• PhD, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Previous Positions/Appointments

• Research Associate, Johns Hopkins University

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University

Academic Research/Interests

About 70% of estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancers have significantly reduced the risk of invasive breast cancer by various endocrine therapies. Despite the relative safety and significant anti-neoplastic and chemopreventive activities of tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors, many initially responsive breast tumors develop resistance and ultimately recur.

My current research is to investigate the secretome leading to the endocrine resistance in crosstalk between endocrine resistant breast cancer and tumor microenvironment.

The long-term mission of my laboratory is to understand the steps of the endocrine resistant process to develop therapeutic approaches to prevent and treat endocrine resistant breast cancer effectively. The ultimate goal of my research is to bring therapies into the clinic that will improve the survival of metastatic breast cancer patients.

Courses Taught at ACPHS

• Molecular Biology (undergraduate)
• Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Experience (undergraduate)
• Thesis I & II (undergraduate)
• Pharmacology & Molecular Genetics of Cancer (graduate)
• Pharmaceutical Sciences Journal Club (graduate)

Honors and Achievements

• NIH grant R15 CA271221 (PI)
• NIH grant R15 CA287244 (Collaborator)

ACPHS Committees

• ACPHS Research Committee
• Faculty Senate
• Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)
• MS Pharmaceutical Sciences Admissions Committee

Selected Publications

Pandithar S, Galke D, Akume A, Belyakov A, Lomonaco D, Guerra AA, Park J, Reff O, Jin K. The role of CXCL1 in crosstalk between endocrine resistant breast cancer and fibroblast. Mol Biol Rep. 2024 Feb 23;51(1):331. doi: 10.1007/s11033-023-09119-4. PubMed PMID: 38393465; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10891235.

Blakely B, Shin S, Jin K. Overview of the therapeutic strategies for ER positive breast cancer. Biochem Pharmacol. 2023 Jun;212:115552. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2023.115552. Epub 2023 Apr 15. Review. PubMed PMID: 37068524; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10394654.

Smrekar K, Belyakov A, Jin K. Crosstalk between triple negative breast cancer and microenvironment. Oncotarget. 2023 Mar 31;14:284-293. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.28397. Review. PubMed PMID: 36999995; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10064880.

Malone MK, Smrekar K, Park S, Blakely B, Walter A, Nasta N, Park J, Considine M, Danilova LV, Pandey NB, Fertig EJ, Popel AS, Jin K. Cytokines secreted by stromal cells in TNBC microenvironment as potential targets for cancer therapy. Cancer Biol Ther. 2020 Jun 2;21(6):560-569. doi: 10.1080/15384047.2020.1739484. Epub 2020 Mar 26. PubMed PMID: 32213106; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7515526.

Jin K, Pandey NB, Popel AS. Simultaneous blockade of IL-6 and CCL5 signaling for synergistic inhibition of triple-negative breast cancer growth and metastasis. Breast Cancer Research 2018 Jun 14;20(1):54. (corresponding author).

Norton KA, Jin K, Popel AS. Modeling triple-negative breast cancer heterogeneity: Effects of stromal macrophages, fibroblasts and tumor vasculature. Journal of Theoretical Biology 2018 Sep 7;452:56-68.

Johng D, Torga G, Ewing CM, Jin K, Norris JD, McDonnell DP, Isaacs WB. HOXB13 interaction with MEIS1 modifies proliferation and gene expression in prostate cancer. Prostate2018 Dec 17. doi: 10.1002/pros.23747. [Epub ahead of print].

Malone MS, Smrekar K, Dnilova L, Considine M, Fertig E, Park S, Blakely B, Walter A, Nasta N, Park J, Jin K, Popel A. Cytokines secreted by stromal cells in TNBC microenvironment as potential targets for cancer therapy: experimental and bioinformatics predictions. Molecular Cancer Research 2018. (corresponding author, in review).

Northon KA, Jin K, and Popel AS. Modeling triple-negative breast cancer heterogeneity: effects of stromal macrophages, fibroblasts and tumor vasculature.  J Theor Biol. 2018 Sep 7;452:56-68.

Jin K, Pandey NB and Popel AS. Synergistic effect of combinatorial treatment with Maraviroc and Tocilizumab on TNBC tumor growth and metastasis in mouse xenograft model. Breast Cancer Research. 2018 Jun 14;20(1):54. (Corresponding author)

Jin K, Pandey NB and Popel AS. Crosstalk between TNBC and stromal components via secreted factors enhances cell motility that can be attenuated by a CXCR inhibitor. Oncotarget. 2017 Jul 21;8(36) :60210-6022. (Corresponding author)

Merino VF, Cho S, Liang X, Park S, Jin K, Chen Q, Pan D, Zahnow CA, Rein AR, Sukumar S. Inhibitors of STAT3, β-catenin, and IGF-1R sensitize mouse PIK3CA-mutant breast cancer to PI3K inhibitors. Mol Oncol. 2017 May;11(5):552-566.

Errico MC, Jin K, Carè A, Sukumar S. The widening sphere of influence of HOXB7 in solid tumors. Cancer Res. 2016 May 15;76(10):2857-62.

Yoshida K*, Jin K*, Hong S, Park S, Huso D, Zhang Z, Liangfeng H, Zhu C, Bruchertseifer F, Morgenstern A, Sgouros G, Sukumar S. Effective treatment of ductal carcinoma in situ with a HER-2- targeted alpha-particle emitting radionuclide in a preclinical model of human breast cancer. Oncotarget. 2016 Apr 23. (*Contributed equally).

Jin K and Sukumar S. HOX genes: Major actors in resistance to selective endocrine response modifiers. 2016. BBA-Cancer review. 1865(2):105-110.

Nguyen KN, Merino V, Jin K, Hillocks Y, Zhang Z, Sadik H, Korangath P, Han L, Ordentlich P, Connolly R, Stearns V, Brodie A and Sukumar S. Reactivation of silenced retinoic acid receptor-beta and potentiation of chemotherapy with Entinostat in breast cancer - preclinical validation and molecular mechanism. 2016. Cancer Res. 2016 Apr 1;76(7):2013-24.

Jin K and Sukumar S. A pivotal role for HOXB7 protein in endocrine resistant breast cancer. 2015. Oncoscience. 15;2(11):917-9.

Jin K, Park S, Teo W, Korangath P, Cho S, Yoshida T, Györffy B, Goswami C, Nakshatri H, Cruz L, Zhou W, Ji H, Su Y, Ekram M, Polyak K, and Sukumar S. HOXB7 is an ERα cofactor in the activation of HER2 and multiple ER target genes leading to endocrine resistance. 2015, Cancer discovery. Sep;5(9):944-59.

Liu S, Jin K, Fu J, Jie C, Zhang H, Feng S, Reissman D, Wang Q, Sukumar S, and Chen H. HOXB7 promotes tumor progression via activation of the transformation growth factor-β signaling pathway. 2015, Cancer Res. 15;75(4):709-19.

Lee E, Fertigc EJ, Jin K, Sukumar S, Pandey NB and Popel AS. Breast cancer cells educate lymphatic endothelial cells within pre-metastatic niches to promote metastasis. 2014, Nature Communications, 2;5:4715.

Shah N*, Jin K*, Cruz LA, Park S, Sadik H, Cho S, Goswami CP, Nakshatri H, Gupta R, Chang HY, Zhang Z, Cimino-Mathews A, Cope L, Umbricht C and Sukumar S. HOXB13 mediates tamoxifen resistance and invasiveness in human breast cancer by suppressing ERα and inducing IL-6 expression. 2013, Cancer Res. 73(17):5449-58. (*Contributed equally)

Wu X, Ellmann S, Rubin E, Gil M, Jin K, Han L, Chen H, Kwon EM, Guo J, Ha HC and Sukumar S. ADP ribosylation by PARP-1 suppresses HOXB7 transcriptional activity. 2012, PLoS One. 7(7):e40644.

Jin K, Kong X, Shah T, Penet MF, Wildes F, Sgroi DC, Ma XJ, Huang Y, Kallioniemi A, Landberg G, Bieche I, Wu X, Lobie PE, Davidson NE, Bhujwalla ZM, Zhu T and Sukumar S. The HOXB7 protein renders breast cancer cells resistant to tamoxifen through activation of the EGFR pathway. 2012, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 21:109(8):2736-41.

Jin K and Sukumar S. BRCA1: linking HOX to breast cancer suppression. 2010, Breast Cancer Res. 12(4):306.

Jin K and Sukumar S. Clonal selection in tamoxifen resistance. 2010, Cancer Biol Ther. 9(9):717-24.

Jin K, Ewton DZ, Park S, Hu J and Friedman E. Mirk regulates the exit of colon cancer cells from quiescence. 2009, J Biol Chem. 284(34):22916-25.

Jin K, Park S, Ewton DZ and Friedman E. The survival kinase Mirk/Dyrk1B is a downstream effector of oncogenic K-ras in pancreatic cancer. 2007, Cancer Res. 67(15):7247-55.

Jin K, Lim S, Mercer SE and Friedman E. The survival kinase Mirk/dyrk1B is activated through Rac1-MKK3 signaling. 2005, J Biol Chem. 280(51):42097-105.

Jee B, Jin K, Hahn JH, Song HG and Lee H. Metastasis-suppressor KAI1/CD82 induces homotypic aggregation of human prostate cancer cells through Src-dependent pathway. 2003, Exp Mol Med. 35(1):30-7.

Kim GY, Mercer SE, Ewton DZ, Yan Z, Jin K and Friedman E. The stressactivated protein kinases p38 alpha and JNK1 stabilize p21(Cip1) by phosphorylation. 2002, J Biol Chem. 277(33):29792-802.

Lim S, Jin K and Friedman E. Mirk protein kinase is activated by MKK3 and functions as a transcriptional activator of HNF1alpha. 2002, J Biol Chem. 277(28):25040-6.

Conferences and Presentations

Jin K, The HOXB7 protein promotes breast cancer cell growth through activation of the CCL5/CCR5 pathway in the crosstalk of adipocyte, April 5-10, Sandiego, CA 2024.

Jin K, The role of CXCL1 in crosstalk between breast cancer cells with ESR1 mutations and lymphatic endothelial cells, April 14-19, Orlando, FL, 2023.

Jin K, Reparixin, CXCR1/2 inhibitor in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitors attenuates endocrine resistant breast cancer growth and metastasis, April 8-13, New Orleans, LA, 2022 (Invited talk)

Jin K, HOXB7, a key transcriptional regulator in triple negative breast cancer progression, Virtual Meeting, April 10-15, 2021

Jin K. Crosstalk between Stromal Components and Endocrine Resistant Breast Cancer via Secreted Factors Enhances Tumor Growth and Metastasis. AACR Annual Meeting, Chicago IL, April 14-18, 2018.

Jin K. Crosstalk between Stromal Components and Endocrine Resistant Breast Cancer via Secreted Factors Enhances Tumor Growth and Metastasis. SUNY Albany, CRC Research Seminar (invited talk).

Jin K. Crosstalk between Stromal Components and Endocrine Resistant Breast Cancer via Secreted Factors Enhances Tumor Growth and Metastasis. 8th Annual Research Forum, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Albany NY, January 27, 2018 (invited talk).

Honors, Awards and Appointments

Preclinical Catalyst Program Reviewer, Breast Cancer Now (UK)

Professional Organization Memberships

Active Member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)