Michael Frederick Press, MD, PhD

Michael F. Press, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Pathology and co-leader of the Women’s Cancers Program. He received his M.D., Ph.D. and residency training at the University of Chicago. He was a member of the University of Chicago faculty for seven years before joining the faculty of the University of Southern California in 1988. Dr. Press is currently the director for the Breast Cancer International Research Group Central Laboratory, the coordinator of the Breast Cancer Program at USC Norris Cancer Center and holds the Harold E. Lee Chair in Cancer Research in the USC Norris Cancer Center. His research interests are molecular genetic alterations in breast and gynecologic cancers.

• HER-2 NEU PROTO-ONCOGENE IN OVARIAN &ENDOMETRIAL CANCER
  NIH · R01CA050589 · Feb 1, 1991 – Jan 31, 1995 · Role: Principal Investigator
• PATHOBIOLOGY OF BREAST CANCER AND HORMONE RECEPTORS
  NIH · R01CA048780 · Apr 1, 1988 – Jan 31, 2006 · Role: Principal Investigator

• Multi-ancestry transcriptome-wide association studies uncover insights into breast cancer genetics and biology. Nat Commun. 2026 May 30; 17(1).. View in PubMed
• A Novel Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Res Sq. 2026 May 18.. View in PubMed
• African ancestry and risk variants associated with triple-negative breast cancer susceptibility in African American women. Genome Med. 2026 05 07; 18(1).. View in PubMed
• Expression of HER2 in the eye and the potential for on-target side effects with antibody-drug conjugates. Sci Rep. 2026 May 07; 16(1).. View in PubMed
• Improved polygenic risk prediction models for breast cancer subtypes in women of African ancestry. Nat Genet. 2026 Mar; 58(3):560-569.. View in PubMed
• Correction: Kinetics of adrenomedullin pathway activation in a porcine sepsis model and a human cohort of sepsis and septic shock. Sci Rep. 2025 Nov 04; 15(1):38510.. View in PubMed
• Genomic Landscapes of Endometrioid and Mucinous Ovarian Cancers and Morphologically Similar Tumor Types. Cancer Res Commun. 2025 11 01; 5(11):1952-1966.. View in PubMed
• Kinetics of adrenomedullin pathway activation in a porcine sepsis model and a human cohort of sepsis and septic shock. Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 24; 15(1):32693.. View in PubMed
• Multi-Ancestry Transcriptome-wide Association Studies Uncover New Insights into Breast Cancer Genetics and Biology. medRxiv. 2025 Aug 13.. View in PubMed
• Integrating multi-ancestry genomic and proteomic data to identify blood risk biomarkers and target proteins for breast cancer genetic risk loci. Int J Cancer. 2025 Nov 15; 157(10):2071-2080.. View in PubMed
• Analytical Comparison of Commonly Used Laboratory-Developed Tests for the Assessment of Ki-67 in Breast Carcinoma With a Food and Drug Administration-Approved Benchmark. Mod Pathol. 2025 Oct; 38(10):100813.. View in PubMed
• Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer Using Cell-Free DNA Fragmentomes and Protein Biomarkers. Cancer Discov. 2025 Jan 13; 15(1):105-118.. View in PubMed
• Refining breast cancer genetic risk and biology through multi-ancestry fine-mapping analyses of 192 risk regions. Nat Genet. 2025 01; 57(1):80-87.. View in PubMed
• Impact of CCND1 amplification on the prognosis of hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer patients-correlation of clinical and pathological markers. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2025 Feb; 210(1):125-134.. View in PubMed
• Case-Case Genome-Wide Analyses Identify Subtype-Informative Variants That Confer Risk for Breast Cancer. Cancer Res. 2024 Aug 01; 84(15):2533-2548.. View in PubMed
• Correlation of RANK and RANKL with mammographic density in primary breast cancer patients. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2024 08; 310(2):1223-1233.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide association analyses of breast cancer in women of African ancestry identify new susceptibility loci and improve risk prediction. Nat Genet. 2024 May; 56(5):819-826.. View in PubMed
• Using genome and transcriptome data from African-ancestry female participants to identify putative breast cancer susceptibility genes. Nat Commun. 2024 May 02; 15(1):3718.. View in PubMed
• Novel breast cancer susceptibility loci under linkage peaks identified in African ancestry consortia. Hum Mol Genet. 2024 04 08; 33(8):687-697.. View in PubMed
• RANK and RANKL Expression in Tumors of Patients with Early Breast Cancer. Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 2024 Jan; 84(1):77-85.. View in PubMed
• Discordance of HER2 Expression and/or Amplification on Repeat Testing. Mol Cancer Ther. 2023 08 01; 22(8):976-984.. View in PubMed
• ESMO expert consensus statements (ECS) on the definition, diagnosis, and management of HER2-low breast cancer. Ann Oncol. 2023 08; 34(8):645-659.. View in PubMed
• Preclinical Efficacy of the Antibody-Drug Conjugate CLDN6-23-ADC for the Treatment of CLDN6-Positive Solid Tumors. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 06 01; 29(11):2131-2143.. View in PubMed
• Efficacy and Safety of Trastuzumab as a Single Agent in First-Line Treatment of HER2-Overexpressing Metastatic Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2023 03 20; 41(9):1638-1645.. View in PubMed
• Tumor biomarkers and efficacy in patients treated with trastuzumab emtansine + pertuzumab versus standard of care in HER2-positive early breast cancer: an open-label, phase III study (KRISTINE). Breast Cancer Res. 2023 01 11; 25(1):2.. View in PubMed
• A Multi-Center Clinical Study to Harvest and Characterize Circulating Tumor Cells from Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer Using the Parsortix® PC1 System. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Oct 26; 14(21).. View in PubMed
• A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Smoking and Circulating Sex Hormone Levels Among Premenopausal Women. Nicotine Tob Res. 2022 10 26; 24(11):1705-1713.. View in PubMed
• Polygenic risk scores for prediction of breast cancer risk in women of African ancestry: a cross-ancestry approach. Hum Mol Genet. 2022 09 10; 31(18):3133-3143.. View in PubMed
• Lifetime personal cigarette smoking and risk of young-onset breast cancer by subtype among non-Hispanic Black and White women in the Young Women’s Health History Study. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2022 Oct; 195(3):353-366.. View in PubMed
• Molecular Assessment of HER2 to Identify Signatures Associated with Therapy Response in HER2-Positive Breast Cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Jun 04; 14(11).. View in PubMed
• Correction to: Circulating Tumor Cell Transcriptomics as Biopsy Surrogates in Metastatic Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2022 May; 29(5):3064.. View in PubMed
• A Standardized Investigational Ki-67 Immunohistochemistry Assay Used to Assess High-Risk Early Breast Cancer Patients in the monarchE Phase 3 Clinical Study Identifies a Population With Greater Risk of Disease Recurrence When Treated With Endocrine Therapy Alone. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2022 04 01; 30(4):237-245.. View in PubMed
• Circulating Tumor Cell Transcriptomics as Biopsy Surrogates in Metastatic Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2022 May; 29(5):2882-2894.. View in PubMed
• A careful reassessment of anthracycline use in curable breast cancer. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2021 Oct 08; 7(1):134.. View in PubMed
• Evaluating Polygenic Risk Scores for Breast Cancer in Women of African Ancestry. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2021 09 04; 113(9):1168-1176.. View in PubMed
• Cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis identifies six breast cancer loci in African and European ancestry women. Nat Commun. 2021 07 07; 12(1):4198.. View in PubMed
• Clinical evaluation of BCL-2/XL levels pre- and post- HER2-targeted therapy. PLoS One. 2021; 16(5):e0251163.. View in PubMed
• Spatial proteomic characterization of HER2-positive breast tumors through neoadjuvant therapy predicts response. Nat Cancer. 2021 04; 2(4):400-413.. View in PubMed
• Discovery and fine-mapping of height loci via high-density imputation of GWASs in individuals of African ancestry. Am J Hum Genet. 2021 04 01; 108(4):564-582.. View in PubMed
• Pathologic and molecular responses to neoadjuvant trastuzumab and/or lapatinib from a phase II randomized trial in HER2-positive breast cancer (TRIO-US B07). Nat Commun. 2020 11 17; 11(1):5824.. View in PubMed
• Deep learning-enabled breast cancer hormonal receptor status determination from base-level H&E stains. Nat Commun. 2020 11 16; 11(1):5727.. View in PubMed
• Impact of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) amplification on the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2020 Nov; 184(2):311-324.. View in PubMed
• Phase III, Randomized Study of Dual Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) Blockade With Lapatinib Plus Trastuzumab in Combination With an Aromatase Inhibitor in Postmenopausal Women With HER2-Positive, Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: Updated Results of ALTERNATIVE. J Clin Oncol. 2021 01 01; 39(1):79-89.. View in PubMed
• Testing considerations for phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha as an emerging biomarker in advanced breast cancer. Cancer Med. 2020 09; 9(18):6463-6472.. View in PubMed
• A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of multiple myeloma among men and women of African ancestry. Blood Adv. 2020 01 14; 4(1):181-190.. View in PubMed
• Case-Based Review and Clinical Guidance on the Use of Genomic Assays for Early-Stage Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Therapy Expert Group (BCTEG). Clin Breast Cancer. 2020 06; 20(3):183-193.. View in PubMed
• Potent Cell-Cycle Inhibition and Upregulation of Immune Response with Abemaciclib and Anastrozole in neoMONARCH, Phase II Neoadjuvant Study in HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2020 02 01; 26(3):566-580.. View in PubMed
• Circulating Tumor Cells Exhibit Metastatic Tropism and Reveal Brain Metastasis Drivers. Cancer Discov. 2020 01; 10(1):86-103.. View in PubMed
• A Roundtable Discussion of the Breast Cancer Therapy Expert Group (BCTEG): Clinical Developments and Practice Guidance on Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2)-positive Breast Cancer. Clin Breast Cancer. 2020 06; 20(3):e251-e260.. View in PubMed
• Publisher Correction: Clonal replacement and heterogeneity in breast tumors treated with neoadjuvant HER2-targeted therapy. Nat Commun. 2019 May 30; 10(1):2433.. View in PubMed
• Role for polo-like kinase 4 in mediation of cytokinesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 06 04; 116(23):11309-11318.. View in PubMed
• Assessment of ERBB2/HER2 Status in HER2-Equivocal Breast Cancers by FISH and 2013/2014 ASCO-CAP Guidelines. JAMA Oncol. 2019 03 01; 5(3):366-375.. View in PubMed
• Clonal replacement and heterogeneity in breast tumors treated with neoadjuvant HER2-targeted therapy. Nat Commun. 2019 02 08; 10(1):657.. View in PubMed
• Integrated Genomic, Epigenomic, and Expression Analyses of Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines. Cell Rep. 2018 11 27; 25(9):2617-2633.. View in PubMed
• Comparison of central laboratory assessments of ER, PR, HER2, and Ki67 by IHC/FISH and the corresponding mRNAs (ESR1, PGR, ERBB2, and MKi67) by RT-qPCR on an automated, broadly deployed diagnostic platform. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2018 Nov; 172(2):327-338.. View in PubMed
• Randomized phase II study of fulvestrant and erlotinib compared with erlotinib alone in patients with advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Lung Cancer. 2018 09; 123:91-98.. View in PubMed
• RNA-Seq of Circulating Tumor Cells in Stage II-III Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2018 Aug; 25(8):2261-2270.. View in PubMed
• Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Testing in Breast Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists Clinical Practice Guideline Focused Update. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2018 11; 142(11):1364-1382.. View in PubMed
• Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Testing in Breast Cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists Clinical Practice Guideline Focused Update. J Clin Oncol. 2018 07 10; 36(20):2105-2122.. View in PubMed
• Protein aggregates and proteostasis in aging: Amylin and β-cell function. Mech Ageing Dev. 2019 01; 177:46-54.. View in PubMed
• Body mass index at age 18 years and recent body mass index in relation to risk of breast cancer overall and ER/PR/HER2-defined subtypes in white women and African-American women: a pooled analysis. Breast Cancer Res. 2018 01 22; 20(1):5.. View in PubMed
• Phase III, Randomized Study of Dual Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) Blockade With Lapatinib Plus Trastuzumab in Combination With an Aromatase Inhibitor in Postmenopausal Women With HER2-Positive, Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: ALTERNATIVE. J Clin Oncol. 2018 03 10; 36(8):741-748.. View in PubMed
• Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium. PLoS Genet. 2017 Apr; 13(4):e1006719.. View in PubMed
• Characterizing Genetic Susceptibility to Breast Cancer in Women of African Ancestry. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2017 07; 26(7):1016-1026.. View in PubMed
• A functionally significant SNP in TP53 and breast cancer risk in African-American women. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2017; 3:5.. View in PubMed
• Reproductive factors and the risk of triple-negative breast cancer in white women and African-American women: a pooled analysis. Breast Cancer Res. 2017 01 13; 19(1):6.. View in PubMed
• Human-derived normal mesenchymal stem/stromal cells in anticancer therapies. J Cancer. 2017; 8(1):85-96.. View in PubMed
• HER2 Status in Advanced or Metastatic Gastric, Esophageal, or Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma for Entry to the TRIO-013/LOGiC Trial of Lapatinib. Mol Cancer Ther. 2017 01; 16(1):228-238.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide association studies in women of African ancestry identified 3q26.21 as a novel susceptibility locus for oestrogen receptor negative breast cancer. Hum Mol Genet. 2016 11 01; 25(21):4835-4846.. View in PubMed
• HER2 Gene Amplification Testing by Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization (FISH): Comparison of the ASCO-College of American Pathologists Guidelines With FISH Scores Used for Enrollment in Breast Cancer International Research Group Clinical Trials. J Clin Oncol. 2016 10 10; 34(29):3518-3528.. View in PubMed
• Prognostic Value of Intrinsic Subtypes in Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer Treated With Letrozole With or Without Lapatinib. JAMA Oncol. 2016 Oct 01; 2(10):1287-1294.. View in PubMed
• A Meta-analysis of Multiple Myeloma Risk Regions in African and European Ancestry Populations Identifies Putatively Functional Loci. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2016 12; 25(12):1609-1618.. View in PubMed
• Genetic variants in microRNA and microRNA biogenesis pathway genes and breast cancer risk among women of African ancestry. Hum Genet. 2016 10; 135(10):1145-59.. View in PubMed
• Assessing the New American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists Guidelines for HER2 Testing by Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization: Experience of an Academic Consultation Practice. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2016 11; 140(11):1250-1258.. View in PubMed
• Long-term outcomes after adjuvant treatment of sequential versus combination docetaxel with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide in node-positive breast cancer: BCIRG-005 randomized trial. Ann Oncol. 2016 06; 27(6):1041-1047.. View in PubMed
• Antibody targeting facilitates effective intratumoral siRNA nanoparticle delivery to HER2-overexpressing cancer cells. Oncotarget. 2016 Feb 23; 7(8):9561-75.. View in PubMed
• Serum Human Epidermal Growth Factor 2 Extracellular Domain as a Predictive Biomarker for Lapatinib Treatment Efficacy in Patients With Advanced Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2016 Mar 20; 34(9):936-44.. View in PubMed
• Lapatinib in Combination With Capecitabine Plus Oxaliplatin in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Positive Advanced or Metastatic Gastric, Esophageal, or Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinoma: TRIO-013/LOGiC–A Randomized Phase III Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2016 Feb 10; 34(5):443-51.. View in PubMed
• Histone acetylation: novel target for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Clin Epigenetics. 2015; 7:117.. View in PubMed
• Mutations in the Kinase Domain of the HER2/ERBB2 Gene Identified in a Wide Variety of Human Cancers. J Mol Diagn. 2015 Sep; 17(5):487-95.. View in PubMed
• Many private mutations originate from the first few divisions of a human colorectal adenoma. J Pathol. 2015 Nov; 237(3):355-62.. View in PubMed
• Methodological Considerations in Estimation of Phenotype Heritability Using Genome-Wide SNP Data, Illustrated by an Analysis of the Heritability of Height in a Large Sample of African Ancestry Adults. PLoS One. 2015; 10(6):e0131106.. View in PubMed
• Non-coding RNAs derived from an alternatively spliced REST transcript (REST-003) regulate breast cancer invasiveness. Sci Rep. 2015 Jun 08; 5:11207.. View in PubMed
• Reduced risk of breast cancer associated with recreational physical activity varies by HER2 status. Cancer Med. 2015 Jul; 4(7):1122-35.. View in PubMed
• Reply to E.A. Rakha et al. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Apr 10; 33(11):1302-4.. View in PubMed
• A Big Bang model of human colorectal tumor growth. Nat Genet. 2015 Mar; 47(3):209-16.. View in PubMed
• PTEN Loss Is Associated with Worse Outcome in HER2-Amplified Breast Cancer Patients but Is Not Associated with Trastuzumab Resistance. Clin Cancer Res. 2015 May 01; 21(9):2065-74.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide scan of 29,141 African Americans finds no evidence of directional selection since admixture. Am J Hum Genet. 2014 Oct 02; 95(4):437-44.. View in PubMed
• Molecular markers for breast cancer diagnosis, prognosis and targeted therapy. J Surg Oncol. 2015 Jan; 111(1):81-90.. View in PubMed
• A comprehensive examination of breast cancer risk loci in African American women. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 Oct 15; 23(20):5518-26.. View in PubMed
• HER2 and TOP2A amplification in a hospital-based cohort of breast cancer patients: associations with patient and tumor characteristics. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2014 May; 145(1):193-203.. View in PubMed
• Meta-analysis of loci associated with age at natural menopause in African-American women. Hum Mol Genet. 2014 Jun 15; 23(12):3327-42.. View in PubMed
• Characterization of HER2 status by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Methods Mol Biol. 2014; 1180:181-207.. View in PubMed
• Quantitative ER and PgR assessment as predictors of benefit from lapatinib in postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Feb 01; 20(3):736-43.. View in PubMed
• Recommendations for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 testing in breast cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists clinical practice guideline update. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2014 Feb; 138(2):241-56.. View in PubMed
• Recommendations for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 testing in breast cancer: American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists clinical practice guideline update. J Clin Oncol. 2013 Nov 01; 31(31):3997-4013.. View in PubMed
• A conceptual and methodological framework for investigating etiologic heterogeneity. Stat Med. 2013 Dec 20; 32(29):5039-52.. View in PubMed
• Mortality risk of black women and white women with invasive breast cancer by hormone receptors, HER2, and p53 status. BMC Cancer. 2013 May 04; 13:225.. View in PubMed
• Genome-wide association study of age at menarche in African-American women. Hum Mol Genet. 2013 Aug 15; 22(16):3329-46.. View in PubMed
• A meta-analysis identifies new loci associated with body mass index in individuals of African ancestry. Nat Genet. 2013 Jun; 45(6):690-6.. View in PubMed

• Lenz, Heinz-Josef
• Haiman, Christopher
• Matsuo, Koji
• Ulaner, Gary
• Wu-Williams, Anna
• Roman, Lynda