Barbara Ann Burtness, MD

Research Interests

Drug Therapy; Head and Neck Neoplasms; Medical Oncology; Chemicals and Drugs; Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment

Research Organizations

Medical Oncology: Subset Medical Oncology Faculty

Faculty Research

Status of Women in Medicine Committee (SWIM)

Yale Cancer Center: Developmental Therapeutics

Research Summary

Studies of targeted treatments for EGFR expressed head and neck cancers, including biomarkers of resistance and novel strategies such as dual EGFR blockade, to overcome resistance. She leads the ECOG-ACRIN Head and Neck Therapeutics Committee, which conducts large multicenter trials in head and neck cancer, including studies of treatment deintensification in HPV-associated cancer, and molecularly guided post-operative therapy. She chairs multicenter trials of targeted therapy and immunotherapy in head and neck cancer.

Specialized Terms: EGFR expressed head and neck cancers.

Extensive Research Description

Studies of targeted treatments for EGFR expressed head and neck cancers, including biomarkers of resistance and novel strategies such as dual EGFR blockade, to overcome resistance. She has demonstrated that loss of PTEN indicates resistance to EGFR inhibition in head and neck cancer, and studied novel dual EGFR/HDAC inhibitors and combined antibody and tyrosine kinase inhibition as strategies to improve responsiveness to EGFR inhibition. She leads the ECOG-ACRIN Head and Neck Therapeutics Committee, which conducts large multicenter trials in head and neck cancer, and chairs multicenter trials of targeted therapy and immunotherapy in head and neck cancer. Her laboratory studies novel combinatorial therapies to target p53 mutated head and neck cancer.

Selected Publications

• Targeted agents: management of dermatologic toxicities

  Burtness B. Targeted agents: management of dermatologic toxicities. J Natl Compr Canc Netw. 2014 May;12(5 Suppl):793-6.PMID: 24853219

• Novel targets in HPV-negative head and neck cancer: overcoming resistance to EGFR inhibition

  Burtness B, Bauman JE, Galloway T. Novel targets in HPV-negative head and neck cancer: overcoming resistance to EGFR inhibition. Lancet Oncol. 2013 Jul;14(8):e302-9. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(13)70085-8. Review. PMID: 23816296

• Quantification of excision repair cross-complementing group 1 and survival in p16-negative squamous cell head and neck cancers

  Mehra R, Zhu F, Yang DH, Cai KQ, Weaver J, Singh MK, Nikonova AS, Golemis EA, Flieder DB, Cooper HS, Lango M, Ridge JA, Burtness B. Quantification of excision repair cross-complementing group 1 and survival in p16-negative squamous cell head and neck cancers. Clin Cancer Res. 2013 Dec 1;19(23):6633-43. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-0152. Epub 2013 Oct 2. PMID: 24088734

• Randomized Phase II Trial of Irinotecan/Docetaxel or Irinotecan/Docetaxel Plus Cetuximab for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: An Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Study

  Burtness B, Powell M, Catalano P, Berlin J, Liles DK, Chapman AE, Mitchell E, Benson AB. Randomized Phase II Trial of Irinotecan/Docetaxel or Irinotecan/Docetaxel Plus Cetuximab for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: An Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Study. Am J Clin Oncol. 2014 Mar 28. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 24685886

• Prognostic biomarkers in phase II trial of cetuximab-containing induction and chemoradiation in resectable HNSCC: Eastern cooperative oncology group E2303

  Psyrri A, Lee JW, Pectasides E, Vassilakopoulou M, Kosmidis EK, Burtness BA, Rimm DL, Wanebo HJ, Forastiere AA. Prognostic biomarkers in phase II trial of cetuximab-containing induction and chemoradiation in resectable HNSCC: Eastern cooperative oncology group E2303. Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Jun 1;20(11):3023-32. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-14-0113. Epub 2014 Apr 3. PMID: 24700741

• Prognostic significance of human papillomavirus in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer: an analysis of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group trials

  Argiris A, Li S, Ghebremichael M, Egloff AM, Wang L, Forastiere AA, Burtness B, Mehra R. Prognostic significance of human papillomavirus in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer: an analysis of Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group trials. Ann Oncol. 2014 Jul;25(7):1410-6. doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdu167. Epub 2014 May 5. PMID: 24799460

Full List of PubMed Publications

• Psyrri A, Yu Z, Weinberger PM, Sasaki C, Haffty B, Camp R, Rimm D, Burtness BA: Quantitative determination of nuclear and cytoplasmic epidermal growth factor receptor expression in oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer by using automated quantitative analysis. Clin Cancer Res. 2005 Aug 15. PMID: 16115926

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