Research Faculty

Ji Hee Ha, Ph.D.

Ji Hee Ha, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Research, Department of Cell Biology


Education:

Ph.D. in Pharmacology, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea
 


Post-doctoral Fellowship:

Postdoctoral Fellowship, Laboratory of Dr. Danny N. Dhanasekaran
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Premkumar Reddy, Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA


Research Interests:

Ovarian cancer has been identified as the fifth leading cause of cancer death in the United States and 52 % of patients die because of the aggressive growth of these cancers. It has been recently observed that the lipid growth factor lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) plays a major role in the genesis and progression ovarian cancer. While the primary mechanism(s) through which LPA promotes tumorigenesis and/or tumor progression has remained largely unknown, recent studies from several laboratories including ours have shown that LPA-mediated oncogenic signaling involves the gep oncogenes, Ga12 and Ga13. In this context our observations that LPA-LPAR-Ga12/13 mediated activation of JNK involves the scaffold protein JLP and Ga12/13 mediated oncogenic pathways involves JLP are highly significant. Therefore, elucidating the mechanism of interaction between the gep oncogenes, JLP, and the downstream signaling components can provide a clear understanding of their potential role in the oncogenic programs activated by these oncogenic G protein a- subunits. Such an understanding will be of critical importance in developing therapeutic targets for ovarian cancers in which the signaling by LPA-LPAR-Ga12/13 signaling nexus appears to play a determinant role.


Contact Information:

Office Phone: (405) 271-6540
Fax Number: (405) 271-6507

 

Email: JiHee-Ha@ouhsc.edu

 

University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Department of Cell Biology
975 NE 10th Street,  BRC 1470
Oklahoma City, OK 73104


Selected Publications:

Ha JH, Radhakrishnan R, Jayaraman M, Yan M, Ward JD, Fung KM, Sood AK, Isidoro C, Mukherjee P, Song YS, Dhanasekaran DN. Lysophosphatidic acid induces metabolic reprogramming in ovarian cancer via a pseudohypoxic response. Cancer Res. 2018 Jan 31. PMID:29386184

 

Ha JH, Yan M, Gomathinayagam R, Jayaraman M, Husain S, Liu J, Mukherjee P, Reddy EP, Song YS, Dhanasekaran DN. Aberrant expression of JNK-associated leucine-zipper protein, JLP, promotes accelerated growth of ovarian cancer. Oncotarget. 2016 Nov 8; 7(45): 72845-72859. PMID:27655714

 

Ha JH, Ward JD, Radhakrishnan R, Jayraman M, Song YS, Dhanasekaran DN. Lysophosphatidic acid stimulates epithelial to mesenchymal transition marker Slug/Snail2 in ovarian cancer cells via Gai2, Src, and HIF1a. Oncotarget. 2016 Jun 21; 7 (25): 37664-37679 PMID:27166196

 

Batabyal S, Cervenka G, Ha JH, Kim YT, Mohanty S. Broad-Band Activatable White-Opsin. PLoS One. 2015 Sep 11; 10 (9): e0136958. PMID:26360377

 

Ha JH, Gomathinayagam R, Yan M. Jayraman M, Ramesh R, Dhanasekaran DN. Determinant role the gep oncogenes, Ga12/13, in ovarian cancer cell proliferation and xenograft tumor growth. Genes Cancer. 2015 Jul: 6(7-8): 356-64. PMID:26413218

 

Yan M, Ha JH, Dhanasekaran DN. Ga13 Stimulates the Tyrosine Phosphorylation of Ric-8A. J Mol Signal. 2015 Jul: 2710:3. PMID:27096001

 

Ward JD, Ha JH, Jayaraman M, Dhanasekaran DN. LPA-mediated migration of ovarian cancer cells involves translocation of Gai2 to invadopodia and association with Src and b-pix. Cancer Lett. 2015; 356:382-391. PMID:25451317

 

Ha JH, Gomathinayagam R, Muralidharan J (equal contribution), Varadarajalu L, Dhanasekaran DN. Hax-1 is required for Rac1-Cortactin interaction and ovarian carcinoma cell migration. Genes Cancer. 2014; 5(3-4): 84-99. PMID:25053987

 

Ha JH, Ward JD, Varadarajalu L, Kim SG, Dhanasekaran DN. The gep proto-oncogene Ga12 mediates LPA-stimulated activation of CREB in ovarian cancer cells. Cell Signal. 2014; 26(1):122-132. PMID:24055910

 

Ha JH, Ward JD, Varadarajalu L and Dhanasekaran DN. The gep proto-oncogene Gα12 mediates LPA-stimulated activation of CREB in ovarian cancer cells. Cell Signal. 2013 Sep 19.

 

Gardner JA, Ha JH, Jayaraman M, Dhanasekaran DN. The gep Proto-Oncogene Ga13 Mediates Lysophosphatidic Acid-Mediated Migration of Pancreatic Cancer Cells. Pancreas. 2013 July; 42(5):819-828. PMID:23508014

 

Goldsmith ZG, Ha JH, Jayaraman M, Dhanasekaran DN. Lysophosphatidic Acid Stimulates the Proliferation of Ovarian Cancer Cells via the gep Proto-Oncogene Gα12(12). Genes Cancer. 2011 May; 2(5): 563-575. PMID:21901169

 

Kim ES, Jeong JB, Kim S, Lee KM, Ko E, Noh DY, Hwang KT, Ha JH, Lee CH, Kim SG, Moon A. The G12 family proteins upregulate matrix metalloproteinase-2 via p53 leading to human breast cell invasion.  Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 2010 Nov; 124(1): 49-61.

 

Yang YM, Lee S, Nam CW, Ha JH, Jayaraman M, Dhanasekaran DN, Lee CH, Kwak MK, Kim SG.  G(alpha) 12/13 inhibition enhances the anticancer effect of bortezomib through PSMB5 downregulation.  Carcinogenesis. 2010; 31(7):1230-1237. PMID:20478922

 

Radhakrishnan R, Ha JH, Dhanasekaran DN.  Mitogenic signaling by the gep oncogene involves the upregulation of s-phase kinase-associated protein 2.  Genes Cancer. 2010 Oct.; 1(10):1033-1043. PMID:21533006

 

Jatiani SS. Cosenza SC, Reddy MV, Ji Hee Ha, Baker SJ, Samanta AK, Olnes MJ, Pfannes L, Sloand EM,Arlinghaus RB, Reddy EP.  A Non-ATP-Competitive Dual Inhibitor of JAK2V617F and BCR-ABLT315I Kinase Elucidation of a Novel Therapeutic Spectrum Based on Substrate Competitive Inhibition.  Genes Cancer. 2010 April; 1(4): 331-345.

 

Dhanasekaran DN, Radhika V, Proikas-Cezanne T, Jayaraman M, Ha J. Heterologous expression of olfactory receptors for targeted chemosensing.  Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2009 Jul; 1170:157-60.

 

Radhika V, Proikas-Cezanne T, Jayaraman M, Onesime D, Ha JH, Dhanasekaran DN.  Chemical sensing of DNT by engineered olfactory yeast strain.  Nat Chem Biol. 2007 Jun; 3(6): 325-330.

 

Rashmi N. Kumar, Ji Hee Ha, Rangasudhagar Radhakrishnan, and Danny N. Dhanasekaran. Transactivation of platelet-derived growth factor receptor a by the GTPase-deficient activated mutant of Ga12Molecular and Cellular Biology. 2006; Jan 50-62.

 

Profile Last Updated: Feb. 20, 2018