Ernest Kun, MD

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Education

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

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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

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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

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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.