Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Dr Gwo Yaw Ho is a medical oncologist and a clinician-scientist investigating better ways to treat ovarian cancer. Dr Ho graduated from The University of Glasgow, Scotland, in 2004, before completing his medical oncology specialist training in Brisbane, Queensland, in 2014. He has completed laboratory-based, translational PhD at Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne in ovarian and rare cancer research whilst undertaking a role of a medical oncologist at Peter McCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne. Dr Ho is now a part of the medical oncology team at Monash Health treating patients with breast and gynaecologic cancer.
Research interests
MYCN is an early embryonic developmental gene that is completely silenced following completion of embryogenesis, except in the context of malignancy or in spermatogonial stem cell population. It plays an important role in regulating cell growth and division (proliferation), self-destruction of cells (apoptosis), cell stemness and differentiation (cell fate), and cell migration. Twenty percent of high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is associated with MYCN oncogene pathway activation, which is linked to stem cell like behaviour and confers a poor prognosis.
Dr Ho’s research focuses on understanding the role of the MYCN pathway in HGSOC tumorigenesis and developing robust pre-clinical models to explore novel therapeutics for this subset of HGSOC. His studies have demonstrated that activation of the MYCN pathway in the fallopian tube secretory epithelial cells can drive ovarian cancer development and he utilises this model to generate pre-clinical data to support clinical trial designs. Dr Ho has also demonstrated that human cancer tissue with MYCN pathway activation can be successfully grown in the laboratory and be used to study the effect of novel therapies targeting this pathway together with their mechanisms of activity and resistance.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Cancer Research, PhD, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI)
Award Date: 26 Aug 2019
Medicine, MBChB, University of Glasgow
Award Date: 5 Jul 2004
Molecular and Cellular Biology, BSc (Hon) , University of Glasgow
Award Date: 1 Jul 2002
External positions
Senior Medical Oncologist, Monash Health
8 Oct 2018 → …
Research area keywords
- Cancer
- Cancer Biology
- Biomarkers
Network
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Using the power of cord blood stem cells to humanize mice for effective cancer immunotherapy research
Greenall, S., Watt, A., Ho, G., Segelov, E., O'Keeffe, M. & Jenkin, G.
1/01/20 → 31/12/21
Project: Research
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Enhanced toxicity with CDK 4/6 inhibitors and palliative radiotherapy: Non-consecutive case series and review of the literature
David, S., Ho, G., Day, D., Harris, M., Tan, J., Goel, S., Hanna, G. G., Srivastava, R., Kruss, G., McDowell, L. & White, M., Jan 2021, In: Translational Oncology. 14, 1, 7 p., 100939.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus) -
Preclinical small molecule WEHI-7326 overcomes drug resistance and elicits response in patient-derived xenograft models of human treatment-refractory tumors
Grohmann, C., Walker, F., Devlin, M., Luo, M. X., Chüeh, A. C., Doherty, J., Vaillant, F., Ho, G. Y., Wakefield, M. J., Weeden, C. E., Kamili, A., Murray, J., Po’uha, S. T., Weinstock, J., Kane, S. R., Faux, M. C., Broekhuizen, E., Zheng, Y., Shield-Artin, K., Kershaw, N. J. & 15 others, , 12 Mar 2021, In: Cell Death & Disease. 12, 3, 18 p., 268.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Refined cut-off for TP53 immunohistochemistry improves prediction of TP53 mutation status in ovarian mucinous tumors: implications for outcome analyses
Kang, E. Y., Cheasley, D., LePage, C., Wakefield, M. J., da Cunha Torres, M., Rowley, S., Salazar, C., Xing, Z., Allan, P. E., Bowtell, D. D. L., Mes-Masson, A. M., Provencher, D. M., Rahimi, K., Kelemen, L. E., Fasching, P. A., Doherty, J. A., Goodman, M. T., Goode, E. L., Deen, S., Pharoah, P. D. P. & 25 others, , Jan 2021, In: Modern Pathology. 34, 1, p. 194-206 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
6 Citations (Scopus) -
Transplantable programmed death ligand 1 expressing gastroids from gastric cancer prone Nfkb1 −/− mice
Low, J. T., Ho, G. Y., Scott, M., Tan, C. W., Whitehead, L., Barber, K., Yip, H. Y. K., Dekkers, J. F., Hirokawa, Y., Silke, J., Burgess, A. W., Strasser, A., Putoczki, T. L. & O’Reilly, L. A., 17 Nov 2021, In: Cell Death & Disease. 12, 12, 3 p., 1091.Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment / Debate › Other › peer-review
Open Access -
ABCC4/MRP4 contributes to the aggressiveness of Myc-associated epithelial ovarian cancer
Jung, M. S., Gao, J., Cheung, L., Bongers, A., Somers, K., Clifton, M., Ramsay, E., Russell, A. J., Valli, E., Gifford, A. J., George, J., Kennedy, C. J., Wakefield, M. J., Topp, M., Ho, G-Y., Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group (AOCS), Scott, C. L., Bowtell, D. D. L., DeFazio, A., Norris, M. D. & 1 others, , 15 Oct 2020, In: International Journal of Cancer. 147, 8, p. 2225-2238 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access2 Citations (Scopus)
Activities
- 3 Contribution to conference
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Combine Scientific Meeting of the Australia-New-Zealand-Gynaecology-Oncology-Group
Gwo-Yaw Ho (Speaker)
Apr 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Royal Women Hospital Research week
Gwo-Yaw Ho (Speaker)
Nov 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
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Combine Scientific Meeting of the Australia-New-Zealand-Gynaecology-Oncology-Group
Gwo-Yaw Ho (Speaker)
Apr 2016Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference