Titles and Affiliations
Associate Professor of Surgery
Research area
Developing a gene-based test to identify hormone receptor-positive breast cancers likely to recur early.
Impact
Hormone receptor-positive breast cancer is universally treated with endocrine therapy, which blocks or reduces the effects of estrogen that can fuel cancer growth. While effective for many patients, up to about 30 percent of these cancers are resistant to this therapy and recur early, a situation linked to a much higher risk of death. It is therefore critical to identify which tumors are unlikely to respond as early as possible. Currently, gene-based tests are used to guide chemotherapy decisions, but none are available right after surgery to determine whether additional precision therapies are needed. One test, Breast Cancer Index, helps guide extended hormone therapy beyond five years after surgery, but nothing similar exists for the early recurrence setting. Dr. Jones has identified that high levels of two genes, EZH2 and UBE2C, are linked to early recurrence despite standard hormone therapy.
What’s next
Dr. Jones will build on these findings, along with existing clinical assays like Breast Cancer Index, to develop a new integrated gene-based test that can identify hormone receptor-positive breast cancers at risk of early recurrence despite hormone therapy. With BCRF support, her team has created a national biorepository containing patient and tumor data and outcomes information from more than 2,000 specimens to support this work. A successful test could be rapidly incorporated into clinical trials, allowing doctors to better predict resistance to hormone therapy, tailor treatment earlier, and ultimately reduce breast cancer deaths.
Biography
Veronica Jones, MD, FACS is a breast surgical oncologist at City of Hope in Duarte, CA. She earned her undergraduate degree with honors from Stanford University before receiving her medical doctorate with honors from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN. While in medical school, she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) National Medical Honor Society and traveled to Kenya to complete clerkships in HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. Dr. Jones continued her postdoctoral training at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX, with a categorical general surgery internship and residency. At Baylor, Dr. Jones was honored as chief resident of the year. In 2014, she completed a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, GA before joining the faculty there as an assistant professor. She has dual appointments in the Department of Surgery, Division of Breast Surgery, and the Department of Population Sciences, Division of Health Equities.
Board-certified in surgery, Dr. Jones is both a practicing clinician and translational researcher. Her overall goal is to mitigate breast cancer morbidity and mortality, especially in Black/African American women who disproportionately die from this disease. Her current research efforts focus on developing targeted therapies for ER-positive breast cancer to not only diminish racial disparities but improve survival for all patients with ER-positive breast cancer. To this end, she performs analyses to further understand the genomic and proteomic drivers of therapy resistance, recurrence, and progression. Additionally, Dr. Jones investigates novel imaging techniques to predict disease initiation and progression. She holds active memberships with several professional societies and is heavily involved in community outreach, speaking frequently at numerous events across Southern California.
