Kyunghee Choi, PhD

Division

• Immunobiology

Education

• BS, Seoul National University, Korea
• MS, Seoul National University, Korea
• PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

Research Interests

Hematopoietic and endothelial development 
We study hematopoietic and endothelial cell development. We focus on the molecular mechanisms that control mesoderm commitment to the hematopoietic and endothelial cell lineages. Particularly, we investigate the interaction among VEGF, Flk1, and an ETS transcription factor ETV2, as these three factors play a deterministic role in the formation of hematopoietic and endothelial cells. We have expertise in hematopoietic, vascular, and stem cell biology and stem cell applications.

Hematopoiesis and angiogenesis in cancer
We study hematopoiesis and angiogenesis in the context of cancer. Particularly, we investigate mechanisms that lead to hematopoietic stem and progenitor changes in the tumor.  We also investigate mechanisms by which tumor angiogenesis affects tumor immunity. We hope to apply the knowledge obtained from these studies to ultimately modulate tumor immunity and tumor growth.

DBBS Affiliations

• Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology Program
• Immunology Program
• Cancer Biology Program
• Molecular Cell Biology Program

Selected Publications

Kabir AU, Zeng C, Subramanian M, Wu J, Kim M, Krchma K, Wang X, Halabi CM, Pan H, Wickline SA, Fremont DH, Artyomov MN, Choi K.ZBTB46 coordinates angiogenesis and immunity to control tumor outcome. Nat Immunol. 2024 Aug 12;. doi: 10.1038/s41590-024-01936-4. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 39134750.

Wu J, Fan C, Kabir AU, Krchma K, Kim M, Kwon Y, Xing X, Wang T, Choi K. Baf155 controls hematopoietic differentiation and regeneration through chromatin priming. Cell Rep. 2024 Jul 30;43(8):114558. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114558. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 39088321.

Barisas DAG, Choi K. Extramedullary hematopoiesis in cancer. Exp Mol Med. 2024 Mar;56(3):549-558. doi: 10.1038/s12276-024-01192-4. Epub 2024 Mar 5. Review. PubMed PMID: 38443597; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10985111.

Steimle JD, Kim C, Rowton M, Nadadur RD, Wang Z, Stocker M, Hoffmann AD, Hanson E, Kweon J, Sinha T, Choi K, Black BL, Cunningham JM, Moskowitz IP, Ikegami K. ETV2 primes hematoendothelial gene enhancers prior to hematoendothelial fate commitment. Cell Rep. 2023 Jun 27;42(6):112665. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112665. Epub 2023 Jun 17. PubMed PMID: 37330911; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10592526.

Barisas DAG, Kabir AU, Wu J, Krchma K, Kim M, Subramanian M, Zinselmeyer BH, Stewart CL, ChoiK. Tumor-derived interleukin-1α and leukemia inhibitory factor promote extramedullary hematopoiesis. PLoS Biol. 2023 May;21(5):e3001746. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001746. eCollection 2023 May. PubMed PMID: 37134077; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10155962.

Subramanian M, Kabir AU, Barisas D, Krchma K, Choi K. Conserved angio-immune subtypes of the tumor microenvironment predict response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Cell Rep Med. 2023 Jan 17;4(1):100896. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100896. Epub 2023 Jan 10. PubMed PMID: 36630952; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9873950.

Hodzic D, Wu J, Krchma K, Jurisicova A, Tsatskis Y, Liu Y, Ji P, Choi K, McNeill H. The inner nuclear membrane protein NEMP1 supports nuclear envelope openings and enucleation of erythroblasts. PLoS Biol. 2022 Oct;20(10):e3001811. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001811. eCollection 2022 Oct. PubMed PMID: 36215313; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9595564.

Lee TJ, Kang HK, Berry JC, Joo HG, Park C, Miller MJ, Choi K. ER71/ETV2 Promotes Hair Regeneration from Chemotherapeutic Drug-Induced Hair Loss by Enhancing Angiogenesis. Biomol Ther (Seoul). 2021 Sep 1;29(5):545-550. doi: 10.4062/biomolther.2021.022. PubMed PMID: 33814416; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8411022.

Kabir, A.U., Subramanian, M., Lee, D.H., Wang, X., Krchma, K. Wu, J., Naismith, T., Halabi, C.M., Kim, J.Y., Pulous, F., Petrich, B., Kim, S., Park, H-C., Hanson, P.I., Pan, H., Wickline, S.A., Fremont, D.H., Park, C., and Choi, K. 2021. Dual role of endothelial Myct1 in tumor angiogenesis and tumor immunity. Science Translational Medicine 13(583):eabb6731.

Wu, J., Krchma, K., Lee, H.J., Prabhakar, S., Wang, X., Zhao, H., Xing, X., Seong, R.H., Fremont, D.H., Artyomov, M.N., Wang, T. and, Choi K. 2020. Requisite Chromatin Remodeling for Myeloid and Erythroid Lineage Differentiation from Erythromyeloid Progenitors. Cell Rep. 33(7):108395.

Zhao, H. and Choi, K. 2019.Single cell transcriptome dynamics from pluripotency to FLK1+ mesoderm. Development. 146(23). pii: dev182097. doi: 10.1242/dev.182097.

Kabir, A.U., Lee, T-J., Pan, H., Berry, J.C., Krchma, K., Wu, J., Liu, F., Kang, H-K., Hinman, K., Yang, L., Hamilton, S., Novack, D.V., Mecham, R.P., Wickline, S.A., Miller, M.J. and Choi, K. 2018. Requisite endothelial reactivation and effective siRNA nanoparticle targeting of Etv2/Er71 in tumor angiogenesis. JCI Insight. 3(8):e97349. doi:10.1172/jci.insight.97349.

Zhao, H., and Choi, K. 2017. A CRISPR screen identifies genes controlling Etv2 threshold expression in hemangiogenic fate commitment. Nature Communications. 8(1):541. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00667-5.

Xu, C., Lee, T., Sakurai, N., Krchma, K., Liu, F., Li, D., Wang, T. and Choi, K. 2017. ETV2/ER71 regulates hematopoietic regeneration through hematopoietic stem cell proliferation. J. Exp. Med. 214(6):1643-1653.

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Assistant
Randi Lee
314-273-1733
Lee.r@wustl.edu

Lab Phone: 314-362-9045
Office Location: BJC-IH Building, Room 8215