Prof. TO Kin-wah, Kenneth

TO Kin-wah, Kenneth 杜健華

B. Pharm., Ph.D., RPh (HK)
Associate Director (Research and Graduate Affairs),
Associate Professor
School of Pharmacy
Faculty of Medicine
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 3943 8017
Fax:(852) 2603 5295
Email: kennethto@cuhk.edu.hk

Personal Details

Professor To obtained his B.Pharm. and Ph.D. from the formerly Department of Pharmacy, CUHK. He is a registered pharmacist in Hong Kong. He received post-doctoral research training at National Cancer Institute (NCI/NIH) and Johns Hopkins University in the United States. Before joining the School of Pharmacy in 2008, he worked at NCI/NIH and studied multidrug resistance and cancer epigenetics.

Research Interests

• Multidrug resistance in cancer chemotherapy
• Drug repurposing
• Cancer epigenetics

Research Collaboration

• National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA
• State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University, China
• Shenzhen People’s Hospital, China
• Cancer Research Unit, Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, HK
• Joint Research Laboratory for Promoting Globalization of Traditional Chinese Medicines (CUHK-SIMM Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai)
• School of Biomedical Sciences, CUHK
• Department of Surgery, CUHK
• Department of Clinical Oncology, CUHK
• Department of Medicine, HKU
• Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China
• Department of Chemistry, CUHK
• Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, CUHK

Representative Studies

• “Afatinib enhances the efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutic agents by eradicating cancer stem-like cells” (published in Cancer Research)
• “Drug combination approaches to overcome resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in lung cancer” (published in Cancer Letters)
• “Pelitinib (EKB-569) targets the up-regulation of ABCB1 and ABCG2 induced by hyperthermia to eradicate lung cancer” (published in British Journal of Pharmacology)
• “Identification of clinically approved drugs indacaterol and canagliflozin for repurposing to treat epidermal growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor-resistant lung cancer” (published in Frontiers in Oncology)
• “A platinum-based hybrid drug design approach to circumvent acquired resistance to molecular targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors” (published in Scientific Reports)

Teaching

Teaching Awards

• Teacher of the Year Award, Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, CUHK (11 consecutive years; Year 2009 – 2020)

• Vice-Chancellor’s Exemplary Teaching Award 2015, CUHK

Level II Academic Advisor (School of Pharmacy, CUHK)

Pharmacy Internship Training Coordinator (School of Pharmacy, CUHK)

Courses

• PHAR1110 Fundamentals of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• PHAR2110 Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Design
• PHAR2131 Pharmaceutical Analysis
• PHAR2212 Dosage Form Science II
• PHAR2220 Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics
• PHAR3420 Pharmacogenomics and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
• PHAR5130 Overview of Drug Development
• Research Track supervisor for Pharmacy Clerkship PHAR4911/4912
• SBMS6005 Cancer and Inflammation

Representative Journal Publications

(*corresponding author, # designated as co-first author)

1. Fong W, To KKW*. Drug repurposing to overcome resistance to various therapies for colorectal cancer. Cell Mol Life Sci 2019; 76: 3383-3406.
2. Guo X, To KK^#, Chen Z, Wang X, Zhang J, Luo M, Wang F, Yan S, Fu L. Dacomitinib potentiates the efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutic agents via inhibiting the drug efflux function of ABCG2 in vitro and in vivo. J Exp Clin Cancer Res 2018; 37: 31.
3. To KK*, Tong CW, Wu M, Cho WC. MicroRNAs in the prognosis and therapy of colorectal cancer: From bench to bedside. World J Gastroenterol 2018; 24: 2949-2973.
4. Tong CWS, Wu WKK, Loong HHF, Cho WCS, To KK*. Drug combination approach to overcome resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in lung cancer. Cancer Lett 2017; 405: 100-110.
5. To KK*, Leung WW, Ng SS. A novel miR-203-DNMT3b-ABCG2 regulatory pathway predisposing colorectal cancer development. Mol Carcinog 2017; 56: 464-477.
6. Wei Y, Poon DC, Fei R, Lam AS, Au-Yeung SC, To KK*. A platinum-based hybrid drug design approach to circumvent acquired resistance to molecular targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Sci Rep 2016; 6: 25363.
7. Wang XK, He JH, Xu JH, Ye S, Wang F, Zhang H, Huang ZC, To KK, Fu LW. Afatinib enhances the efficacy of conventional chemotherapeutic agents by eradicating cancer stem-like cells. Cancer Res 2014; 74: 4431-4445.
8. To KK*, Tomlinson B. Targeting the ABCG2-overexpressing multidrug resistant (MDR) cancer cells by PPARg agonists. Br J Pharmacol 2013; 170: 1137-1151.
9. To KK*, Robey RW, Knutsen T, Zhan Z, Ried T, Bates SE. Escape from hsa-miR-519c enables drug resistant cells to maintain high expression of ABCG2. Mol Cancer Ther 2009; 8: 2959-2968.
10. To KK, Sedelnikova OA, Sarnons M, Bonner WM, Huang LE. The phosphorylation status of PAS-B distinguishes HIF-1alpha from HIF-2alpha in NBS1 repression. EMBO J 2006; 25: 4784-4794.

More Publications

Book Chapters

• To KK, Cho WC (2020). Drugs repurposed to potentiate immunotherapy for cancer treatment. In: K.K. To, W.C Cho (Eds.), Drug Repurposing in Cancer Therapy: Approaches and Applications (1^st Edition). (pp. 312-334) New York, United States: Academic Press, Elsevier.
• To KK, Wu M, Tong CW, Yan W (2020). Drug transporters in the development of multidrug resistance in colorectal cancer. In: CH Cho, T Hu (Eds.), Drug Resistance in Colorectal Cancer: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies. (pp. 35-55) New York, United States: Academic Press, Elsevier.
• To KK, Tong CW (2018). Lung Cancer Chemoresistance and Chemosensitization. In: AB Kunnumakkara, D Bordoloi, J Monisha (Eds.), Cancer Cell Chemoresistance and Chemosensitization: (pp. 425-478) World Scientific Publisher. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813208575_0015.
• To KK, Huang LE (2013). An Efficient Way of Studying Protein-Protein Interactions Involving HIF-1a, c-Myc, and Sp1. In: L Soucek, NM Sodir (Eds.), Methods in Molecular Biology. Vol. 1012, page 77-84; The Myc Gene, Humana Press, 2013.
• To Kenneth KW, Fu LW (2011). Multidrug Resistance Transporters – Roles in maintaining Cancer Stem-Like Cells. In: A Gholamrezanezhad (Ed.) Stem Cells in Clinic and Research. InTech, ISBN: 978-953-307-797-0. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/multidrug-resistance-transporters-roles-in-maintaining-cancer-stem-like-cells
• L. Eric Huang, Young-Gun Yoo, Minori Koshiji and Kenneth K.W. To (2011). Hypoxia Inhibits DNA Repair to Promote Malignant Progression, DNA Repair and Human Health, Sonya Vengrova (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-612-6, InTech, Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/hypoxia-inhibits-dna-repair-to-promote-malignant-progression