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Division of Cancer Medicine - Waun Ki Hong, M.D.

Waun Ki Hong, M.D.
Waun Ki Hong, M.D. Photo
Research Interests

Biology of lung and head and neck cancers, molecular targeted therapies for treatment and prevention, chemoprevention, retinoids, genetic risk modeling for preventive therapy.

Waun Ki Hong, M.D., is a foremost authority on the treatment and prevention of head and neck cancer and lung cancer. His expertise spans more than 36 years of unprecedented advances in translational and clinical cancer research.


Dr. Hong has developed treatment approaches that have enabled thousands of laryngeal cancer patients to avoid radical surgery and enjoy a better quality of life, eradicating the cancer while preserving the ability to speak and swallow.

Dr. Hong is one of the founders of cancer chemoprevention and pioneered a new paradigm for cancer—the possibility that it can be prevented or delayed. His landmark studies demonstrating that high-dose retinoic acid can reverse oral premalignant lesions and prevent the development of second primary tumors were the first to prove that chemoprevention can work in humans. He also demonstrated proof of principle for bio-chemoprevention in reversing advanced premalignant lesions of the larynx, using a combination of interferon, retinoids, and vitamin E. This novel approach shows great promise for reversing advanced premalignancies and for prevention of primary tumors in high-risk cohorts such as former smokers. Dr. Hong showed for the first time that genetic damage to the airways can persist for many years after smoking cessation and developed ways to identify genetically former smokers at highest risk for lung cancer.

More recently, Dr. Hong has led the development of personalized molecular targeted therapies for head, neck, and lung cancer. For example, his Biomarker-Based Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination project (BATTLE), funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, employs an adaptive clinical trial design in which patients are assigned to the treatment drug to which they are most likely to respond based on their personal biomarker profile identified through tumor biopsies. His most recently funded Department of Defense project, Profiling of Resistance Patterns and Oncogenic Signaling Pathways in Evaluation of Cancers of the Thorax and Therapeutic Target Identification (PROSPECT), has already identified several molecular targets and pathways in cell lines that predict drug sensitivity and resistance. Clinical application of these findings is underway in developing and testing personalized therapeutic strategies for non-small-cell lung cancer and mesothelioma. Dr. Hong’s ongoing research in this area holds extraordinary promise to prolong progression-free survival of these deadly diseases.

A national and international leader in medical oncology, Dr. Hong has also played an active role in shaping public policy, increasing international collaboration in cancer research, and mentoring hundreds of young physicians and scientists from around the world who will become the next generation of cancer researchers and clinicians.


Selected Publications
  1. Spitz MR, Hong WK, Amos CI, Wu X, Schabath MB, Dong Q, Shete S, Etzel CJ. A risk model for prediction of lung cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 99(9):715-26, 2007.

  2. Tsao AS, He D, Saigal B, Liu S, Lee JJ, Bakkannagari S, Ordonez NG, Hong WK, Wistuba I, Johnson FM. Inhibition of c-Src expression and activation in malignant pleural mesothelioma tissues leads to apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and decreased migration and invasion. Mol Cancer Ther 6(7):1962-72, 2007.

  3. Papadimitrakopoulou VA, Brown EN, Liu DD, El-Naggar AK, Lee J, Hong WK, Lee HY. The prognostic role of loss of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 expression in head and neck carcinogenesis. Cancer Lett 239(1):136-43 2006.

  4. Tsao AS, Liu D, Lee JJ, Spitz M, Hong WK. Smoking affects treatment outcome in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer. Cancer 106(11):2428-36, 2006.

  5. AACR Task Force on Cancer Prevention. Progress in chemoprevention drug development: the promise of molecular biomarkers for prevention of intraepithelial neoplasia and cancer--a plan to move forward. Clin Cancer Res 12(12):3661-97, 2006.

  6. Minard CG, Spitz MR, Wu X, Hong WK, Etzel CJ. Evaluation of glutathione S-transferase polymorphisms and mutagen sensitivity as risk factors for the development of second primary tumors in patients previously diagnosed with early-stage head and neck cancer. Cancer 15;106(12):2636-44, 2006.

  7. Lee HY, O SH, Woo JK, Kim WY, Van Pelt CS, Price RE, Cody D, Tran H , Pezzuto JM, Moriarty RM, Hong WK. Chemopreventive effects of deguelin, a novel Akt inhibitor, on tobacco-induced lung tumorigenesis. J Natl Cancer Inst 16;97(22):1695-9, 2005.

  8. Lippman SM, Sudbo J, Hong WK. Oral cancer prevention and the evolution of molecular-targeted drug development. J Clin Oncol 23(2):346-56, 2005. Review.

  9. Tsao AS, Kim ES, Hong WK. Chemoprevention of cancer. CA Cancer J Clin 54(3): 150-80, 2004.

  10. Lee JJ, Liu D, Lee JS, Kurie JM, Khuri FR, Ibarguen H, Morice RC, Walsh G, Ro JY, Broxson A, Hong WK, Hittelman WN. Long-term impact of smoking on lung epithelial proliferation in current and former smokers. J Natl Cancer Inst 93:1081-8, 2001.

  11. Hong WK, Spitz MR, Lippman SM. Cancer chemoprevention in the 21st century: Genetics, risk modeling, and molecular targets. J Clin Oncol 18(21 Suppl):9S-18S, 2000.

  12. Mao L, El-Naggar AK, Papadimitrakopoulou V, Shin DM, Shin HC, Fan Y, Zhou X, Clayman G, Lee JJ, Lee JS, Hittleman WN, Lippman SM, Hong WK. Phenotype and genotype of advanced premalignant head and neck lesions after chemopreventive therapy. J Natl Cancer Inst 90:1545-1551, 1998.