Jenny C. Chang, MD

Emily Herrmann Presidential Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research & Director, Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center
Professor of Medicine, Academic Institute
Full Member, Research Institute
Houston Methodist
Weill Cornell Medical College


Chang Lab


Biography

Jenny Chang, MD, is the Director of the Houston Methodist Dr. Mary and Ron Neal Cancer Center and holds the Emily Herrmann Presidential Distinguished Chair in Cancer Research. She is a Professor of Cancer with the Institute for Academic Medicine and a member of the Houston Methodist Research Institute and Professor at Weill Cornell Medical School. She obtained her medical degree at Cambridge University in England and completed fellowship training in medical oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital/Institute for Cancer Research in the United Kingdom. She was also awarded a research doctorate from the University of London. Her recent work has focused on the intrinsic therapy resistance of cancer stem cells, and the role of targeting inflammatory pathways to change tumor immune microenvironment. Dr. Chang's clinical research aims to evaluate these novel biologic agents in breast cancer patients.

Description of Research

Dr. Chang has worked in the field of tumor-initiating cells for more than ten years. After her discovery that tumor-initiating cells are chemo-resistant, and that targeting the EGFR/HER2 pathway can decrease this subpopulation, Dr. Chang has played a key role in demonstrating some of the limitations and mechanisms of tumor-initiating cells (Creighton et al., 2009; Li et al., 2008). Her work is now focused on the mechanisms that regulate TICs, as well as initiating and planning clinical trials that target this critical tumor initiating subpopulation. She is also interested in characterizing the cross-talk between these different pathways that may lead to mechanisms of resistance, and has identified some of the chief regulatory pathways involved in TIC self-renewal. She is a world-renown clinical investigator, credited as one of the first to describe intrinsic chemo-resistance of tumor-initiating cells.

Areas Of Expertise

Breast cancer Cancer Stem cells High throughput
Education & Training

MD, University of Cambridge
Research Doctorate, University of London
Publications

A Phase II Single-arm Study of Palbociclib in Patients With HER2-positive Breast Cancer With Brain Metastases and Analysis of ctDNA in Patients With Active Brain Metastases
Shah, AN, Santa-Maria, CA, Mukhija, D, Shah, N, Kang, AK, Kumthekar, P, Burdett, K, Chandra, S, Chang, J, Tsarwhas, D, Woodman, J, Jovanovic, B, Gerratana, L, Gradishar, W & Cristofanilli, M 2023, , Clinical Breast Cancer, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 324-329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clbc.2022.12.006

Tocilizumab overcomes chemotherapy resistance in mesenchymal stem-like breast cancer by negating autocrine IL-1A induction of IL-6
Chung, AW, Kozielski, AJ, Qian, W, Zhou, J, Anselme, AC, Chan, AA, Pan, PY, Lee, DJ & Chang, JC 2022, , npj Breast Cancer, vol. 8, no. 1, 30. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-021-00371-0

Systemic Nos2 Depletion and Cox inhibition limits TNBC disease progression and alters lymphoid cell spatial orientation and density
Somasundaram, V, Ridnour, LA, Cheng, RY, Walke, AJ, Kedei, N, Bhattacharyya, DD, Wink, AL, Edmondson, EF, Butcher, D, Warner, AC, Dorsey, TH, Scheiblin, DA, Heinz, W, Bryant, RJ, Kinders, RJ, Lipkowitz, S, Wong, ST, Pore, M, Hewitt, SM, McVicar, DW, Anderson, SK, Chang, J, Glynn, SA, Ambs, S, Lockett, SJ & Wink, DA 2022, , Redox Biology, vol. 58, pp. 102529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2022.102529

Systemic Nos2 Depletion and Cox inhibition limits TNBC disease progression and alters lymphoid cell spatial orientation and density
Somasundaram, V, Ridnour, LA, Cheng, RYS, Walke, AJ, Kedei, N, Bhattacharyya, DD, Wink, AL, Edmondson, EF, Butcher, D, Warner, AC, Dorsey, TH, Scheiblin, DA, Heinz, W, Bryant, RJ, Kinders, RJ, Lipkowitz, S, Wong, STC, Pore, M, Hewitt, SM, McVicar, DW, Anderson, SK, Chang, J, Glynn, SA, Ambs, S, Lockett, SJ & Wink, DA 2022, , Redox Biology, vol. 58, 102529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2022.102529

Adjuvant trastuzumab emtansine in HER2-positive breast cancer patients with HER2-negative residual invasive disease in KATHERINE
Loibl, S, Huang, CS, Mano, MS, Mamounas, EP, Geyer, CE, Untch, M, Thery, JC, Schwaner, I, Limentani, S, Loman, N, Lübbe, K, Chang, JC, Hatschek, T, Tesarowski, D, Song, C, Lysbet de Haas, S, Boulet, T, Lambertini, C & Wolmark, N 2022, , npj Breast Cancer, vol. 8, no. 1, 106. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-022-00477-z

A Phase 2 Trial of Enhancing Immune Checkpoint Blockade by Stereotactic Radiation and In Situ Virus Gene Therapy in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Mathur, SK, Sun, K, Chang, JC, Niravath, PA, Darcourt, J, Patel, T & Teh, BS 2022, , Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 28, no. 20, pp. 4392-4401. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0622

A Phase 2 Trial of Enhancing Immune Checkpoint Blockade by Stereotactic Radiation and In Situ Virus Gene Therapy in Metastatic Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Sun, K, Xu, Y, Zhang, L, Niravath, P, Darcourt, J, Patel, T, Teh, BS, Farach, AM, Guerrero, C, Mathur, S, Sultenfuss, MA, Gupta, N, Schwartz, MR, Haley, SL, Nair, S, Li, X, Nguyen, TTA, Butner, JD, Ensor, J, Mejia, JA, Mei, Z, Butler, EB, Chen, SH, Bernicker, EH & Chang, JC 2022, , Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, vol. 28, no. 20, pp. 4392-4401. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0622, https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0622

A comparative efficacy study of diagnostic digital breast tomosynthesis and digital mammography in BI-RADS 4 breast cancer diagnosis
Ezeana, CF, Puppala, M, Wang, L, Chang, JC & Wong, STC 2022, , European Journal of Radiology, vol. 153, 110361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrad.2022.110361

Vitamin E Enhances Cancer Immunotherapy by Reinvigorating Dendritic Cells via Targeting Checkpoint SHP1
Yuan, X, Duan, Y, Xiao, Y, Sun, K, Qi, Y, Zhang, Y, Ahmed, Z, Moiani, D, Yao, J, Li, H, Zhang, L, Yuzhalin, AE, Li, P, Zhang, C, Badu-Nkansah, A, Saito, Y, Liu, X, Kuo, WL, Ying, H, Sun, SC, Chang, JC, Tainer, JA & Yu, D 2022, , Cancer Discovery, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 1743-1759. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-0900

Utilization of Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in the Peri-Transplant Setting: Transplant Oncology View
Abdelrahim, M, Esmail, A, Saharia, A, Abudayyeh, A, Abdel-Wahab, N, Diab, A, Murakami, N, Kaseb, AO, Chang, JC, Gaber, AO & Ghobrial, RM 2022, , Cancers, vol. 14, no. 7, 1760. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14071760

A clinical study indicates that 3D mammography shows no improvement over 2D mammography in cancer detection rates and biopsy-derived positive predictive value among BI-RADS 4 populations: Cancer Res (2022) 82 (4_Supplement): P3-01-11.
Ezeana, CF, Puppala, M, Wang, L, Wong, ST & Chang, JC 2022, .

Utility of Cell-Free DNA Detection in Transplant Oncology
Reddy, T, Esmail, A, Chang, JC, Ghobrial, RM & Abdelrahim, M 2022, , Cancers, vol. 14, no. 3, 743. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14030743

Clinical factors and association with treatment modalities in patients with breast cancer and brain metastases who develop leptomeningeal metastases
Puri, A, Mylavarapu, C, Xu, J, Patel, TA, S.Teh, B, Tremont-Lukats, I, Chang, JC & Niravath, P 2022, , Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, vol. 193, no. 3, pp. 613-623. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-022-06595-3

A phase 1/2 clinical trial of the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor L-NMMA and taxane for treating chemoresistant triple-negative breast cancer
Chung, AW, Anand, K, Anselme, AC, Chan, AA, Gupta, N, Venta, LA, Schwartz, MR, Qian, W, Xu, Y, Zhang, L, Kuhn, J, Patel, T, Rodriguez, AA, Belcheva, A, Darcourt, J, Ensor, J, Bernicker, E, Pan, PY, Chen, SH, Lee, DJ, Niravath, PA & Chang, JC 2021, , Science translational medicine, vol. 13, no. 624, abj5070. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.abj5070

A targetable LIFR-NF-?B-LCN2 axis controls liver tumorigenesis and vulnerability to ferroptosis
Yao, F, Deng, Y, Zhao, Y, Mei, Y, Zhang, Y, Liu, X, Martinez, C, Su, X, Rosato, RR, Teng, H, Hang, Q, Yap, S, Chen, D, Wang, Y, Chen, MJM, Zhang, M, Liang, H, Xie, D, Chen, X, Zhu, H, Chang, JC, You, MJ, Sun, Y, Gan, B & Ma, L 2021, , Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, 7333. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27452-9

Sacituzumab govitecan, a Trop-2-directed antibody-drug conjugate, for patients with epithelial cancer: final safety and efficacy results from the phase I/II IMMU-132-01 basket trial
Bardia, A, Messersmith, WA, Kio, EA, Berlin, JD, Vahdat, L, Masters, GA, Moroose, R, Santin, AD, Kalinsky, K, Picozzi, V, OShaughnessy, J, Gray, JE, Komiya, T, Lang, JM, Chang, JC, Starodub, A, Goldenberg, DM, Sharkey, RM, Maliakal, P, Hong, Q, Wegener, WA, Goswami, T & Ocean, AJ 2021, , Annals of Oncology, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 746-756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annonc.2021.03.005

Enhancing Inflammation Targeting Using Tunable Leukocyte-Based Biomimetic Nanoparticles
Zinger, A, Sushnitha, M, Naoi, T, Baudo, G, De Rosa, E, Chang, J, Tasciotti, E & Taraballi, F 2021, , ACS Nano, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 6326-6339. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c05792

Benchmarks for Academic Oncology Faculty
Anthony, L, Atweh, G, Bhatia, R, Carey, LA, Chang, JC, Edelman, MJ, Kantoff, PW, Markham, MJ, Messersmith, W, Nelson, EL, Oettel, K, ORegan, R, Verschraegen, CF & Vose, JM 2021, , JCO oncology practice, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. e440-e444. https://doi.org/10.1200/OP.20.00020

Targeting mTOR and DNA repair pathways in residual triple negative breast cancer post neoadjuvant chemotherapy
Anand, K, Patel, T, Niravath, P, Rodriguez, A, Darcourt, J, Belcheva, A, Boone, T, Ensor, J & Chang, J 2021, , Scientific Reports, vol. 11, no. 1, 82. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80081-y

Acetyl-CoA Synthetase 2: A Critical Linkage in Obesity-Induced Tumorigenesis in Myeloma
Li, Z, Liu, H, He, J, Wang, Z, Yin, Z, You, G, Wang, Z, Davis, RE, Lin, P, Bergsagel, PL, Manasanch, EE, Wong, STC, Esnaola, NF, Chang, JC, Orlowski, RZ, Yi, Q & Yang, J 2021, , Cell Metabolism, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 78-93.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2020.12.011