UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

Photo of Ernest Kun, MD  Ernest Kun, MD

Emeritus Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UCSF

Contact

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(415) 514-2145 (voice)

Box 0450, UCSF; San Francisco, CA 94143-0450

Education

Berzsenyi College, Sopron, Hungary, Matura, 1937
Peter Pazmany University (renamed Semmeiweiss Medical University), Budapest, Hungary, M.D., 1944

Professional Experience

  • 1939-1943
    Assistant in Physiology, Dept. Physiology, Semmelweiss Univ., Budapest, Hungary
  • 1943-1946
    First Assistant (Adjunctus), Dept. Pharmacology, Semmeiweis Univ., Budapest, Hungary
  • 1946-1947
    Research Assistant
  • 1947-1949
    Research Associate (Instructor), Dept. of Pharmacology, University of Chicago, IL
  • 1949-1953
    Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Tulane Univ., School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA (with one year's interruption as USPHS Research Fellow at Univ. Chicago).
  • 1953-1955
    Special Research Fellow of USPHS in Enzyme Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Institute for Enzyme Research,
  • 1956-1960
    Lecturer in Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, CA
  • 1960-1965
    Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Experimental Pharmacology, Senior Member, Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA
  • 1965-1989
    Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and Anatomy; Professor of Biochemistry and Experimental Pharmacology, Senior Member of Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA
  • 1989-present
    Emeritus Professor of Cellular & Molecular Pharmacology and Senior Member of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco

Honors & Awards

  • 1941
    Research Award of Hungarian Physiological Society
  • 1956-1961
    "Established Investigator" Award of American Heart Association
  • 1962-1989
    Research Career Award of the U.S. Public Health Service
  • 1970-
    Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • 1973-
    Senior Science Award, Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany
  • 1993-2000
  • Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK
  • Member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, DSci Award

Selected Publications

  • (2000-present)
  • Kirsten, E. and Kun, E. "Cancer cell selectivity of 5-iodo-6-aminobenzopyrone (INH2BP) and methyl 3-5-diiodo-4(4 , -methoxyphenoxy) benzoate (DIME)." Internat. J. Mol. Med. 5, 279-281 (2000).
  • P. I., Buki, K.G., Comstock, J.A. and Kun, E. "Activation of topoisomerase I by poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Internat. J. Mol. Med. 5, 533-540 (2000).
  • Mabley, J.G., Suarez-Pinson, W.L., Hasko, G., Salzman, A.L., Rabinovitch, A., Kun, E. and Szabo, C. Inhibition of poly (ADP-ribose) synthetase by gene disruption or inhibition with 5-iodo-6-amino-1,2-benzopyrone protects mice from multiple low dose streptozotocin-induced diabetes. British J. Pharmacol. 133, 908-920, 2001.
  • Bauer, P.I., Buki, K.G. and Kun, E. Selective augmentation of histone H1 phosphorylation sites by interaction of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and cdc2-kinase: Comparison with protein kinase C. Internat. J. Mol. Medicine 8, 691-693, 2001.
  • Bauer, P.I., Chen, H-J., Kenesi, E., Kenessey, I., Buki, K.G., Kirsten, E., Hakam, A., Hwang, J.I. and Kun, E. Molecular interactions between poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP I) and topoisomerase (Topo I): Identification of topology of binding. FEBS Lett. 25315, 1-2, 2001.
  • Kun, E. and Bauer, P.I. Cell biological functions of PARP I: an overview. Ital. J. Biochem. 50, 15-18, 2001.
  • Bauer, P.I., Mendeleyev, J., Kirsten, E., Comstock, J.A., Hakam, A., Buki, K.G. and Kun, E. Anti-cancer action of 4-iodo-3-nitro-benzamide in combination with butionine sulfoximine: inactivation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and tumor glycolysis and the appearance of a poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase protease. Biochemical Pharmacology 63 (No. 2), 455-461, 2002.
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E. and Ordahl, C.P. Coenzymatic activity of randomly broken or intact double stranded DNAs in auto- and histone H1 trans-poly-ADP-ribosylation, catalyzed by poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP I). J. Biol. Chem. 277, 39066-39069, 2002.
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E., Mendeleyev, J. Synergistic anticancer action of reversibly and irreversiby acting ligands of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Internat. J. Mol. Med. 11, 191-193, 2003.
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E. Mendeleyev, J. and Ordahl, C.P. Regulation of the enzymatic catalysis of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase by dsDNA, polyamines, Mg2+, Ca2+, histones H1 and H3, and ATP. Biochemistry 43, 210-216, 2004.
  • Huang, K., Tidyman, W.E., Le, K-U. T., Kirsten, E., Kun, E. and Ordahl, C.P. Analysis of nucleotide sequence-dependent DNA binding of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in a purified system. Biochemistry 43, 217-223, 2004.
  • Kirsten, E., Kun, E., Mendeleyev, J. and Ordahl, C.P. Methods in Molecular Biology 287,. 137-149. Epigenetics Protocols, ed. T.O. Tollefsbol. Humana Press, New Jersey. 2004.
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E., Mendeleyev, J., and Ordahl, C. P. Regulation of the enzymatic catalysis of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase by dsDNA, polyamines, Mg2+, Ca2+, histone H1 and H3, and ATP. Biochemistry 43, 210-216, 2004.
  • Huang, K., Tidyman, W.E., Le, K-U.T., Kirsten, E. Kun, E. and Ordahl, C.P. Analysis of nucleotide sequence-dependent DNA binding of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase in a purified system. Biochemistry 43, 217-223, 2004.
  • Kirsten, E., Kun, E., Mendeleyev, J. and Ordahl, C.P. Methods in Molcular Biology 287, 137-149. Epigenetics Protocols, ed. T.O.Tollefsbol, Humana Press, New Jersey, 2004.
  • Bauer, P., Kirsten, E., and Kun, E. Mechanisms of antitumor action of methyl-3,5-diiodo-4- (4 -methoxyphenoxy)benzoate: Drug-induced protein dephosphorylations and inhibition of the permissive action of ceramide on growth factor induced cell proliferation. Oncology Reports 13, 465-468, 2005.
  • Bauer, P.I,, Kenesi, E,, Mendeleyev, J. and Kun, E: The influence of ATP on poly(ADP-ribose) metabolism. Internat. J. Mol. Med. 16: 321-324, 2005.
  • Kun, E., Mendeleyev, J. and Bauer, P. PARP Modulators and treatment of cancer. Reg. No. 25.227. US Patent (Pending) June 2005
  • Kun E, Mendeleyev J, Basbaum C, Lemjabbar H, Ossovskaya V: Treatment of Cancer. (BiPar Sciences Inc.) No.718,101, 2005
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E., Bauer, P.I. and Ordahl, C. P. Quantitative correlation between cellular proliferation and nuclear poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP1). Internat. J. Molecular Medicine 17: 293-300, 2006.
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E., Hakam, A, Bauer, P.I., Mendeleyev, J. Identification of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 as the OXPHOS-generated ATP sensor of nuclei in animal cells. Biophys.. Biochem. Res. Commun. 366, 568-573, 2008.
  • Kun, E., Kirsten, E., Hakam, A., Bauer, P.I., Mendeleyev, J. Dependence of trans-ADP-ribosylation and nuclear glycolysis on the Arg 34-ATP complex of ZnK2+ finger I of poly-ADP-ribose polymerase-1. FEBS Letters 582, 2709-2713, 2008.
  • Ernest Kun, Jerome Mendeleyev, Alaeddin Hakam and Eva Kirsten: Enzymatic mechanism of the tumoricidal action of 4-iodo-3-nitrobenzamide. Molecular Medicine Reports 2, 739-742, 2009.
  • Ernest Kun, Jerome Mendeleyev, Eva Kirsten, Alaeddin Hakam, Albert M. Kun, Anna Fekete, Pal I. Bauer, Zsuzsanna Dunai and Rudolf Mihalik: Regulation of malignant phenotype and bioenergetics by a pi-electron donor-inducible mitochondrial MgATPase. International Journal of Molecular Medicine DOI:10.3892/ijmm.2010.567.

Updated: December 20, 2010