# Developing Chemical Probes to Decipher Gankyrin Biology

> **NIH NIH SC2** · ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $164,000

## Abstract

Abstract. Gankyrin is an oncoprotein overexpressed in numerous cancer types and appears to play key roles
in regulating cell proliferation, cell migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. These roles are primarily due
to gankyrin’s numerous protein-protein interactions. The importance of these protein-protein interactions has
been demonstrated by either decreasing gankyrin expression levels or directly disrupting its protein-protein
interactions, which has resulted in decreased cell proliferation, cell migration and epithelial-mesenchymal
transition, as well as disease severity in animal models of numerous cancer types. Therefore, gankyrin has been
identified as an intriguing protein in multiple cancer types. However, much of how gankyrin regulates cell
proliferation, cell migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition is poorly understood. The overall goal of this
proposal is to further develop our gankyrin-targeting probes which can be utilized to decipher much of gankyrin’s
biological role in regulating cancer cell proliferation, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Furthermore, these probes will help in validating gankyrin as a therapeutic target due to its diverse roles in
multiple cancer types. In order to achieve this goal, we are seeking to improve the ability of the cjoc42 scaffold
to bind gankyrin and increase efficacy in specific cell-based assays. This proposal will also seek to provide
preliminary data about gankyrin’s role in cancer biology, but the primary focus will be to develop and validate our
probes as useful in future experiments. Ultimately, this proposal will provide the chemical probes required to fully
understand gankyrin’s biological roles which will directly impact therapeutic advancements in multiple cancer
types.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10360446
- **Project number:** 5SC2GM139672-02
- **Recipient organization:** ST. JOHN'S UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Aaron Muth
- **Activity code:** SC2 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $164,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-03-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10360446

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10360446, Developing Chemical Probes to Decipher Gankyrin Biology (5SC2GM139672-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10360446. Licensed CC0.

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