Michael J Birrer, MD, PhD

Research Program: Cancer Therapeutics Faculty Rank: Vice Chancellor and Director, WPR Cancer Institute Campus: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College: College of Medicine Department: Internal Medicine

Cancer Research Interest

• Research Focus Area: Prevention, Treatment, Informatics, Detection, Carcinogenesis, Diagnosis/ Prognosis
• Type of Research: Clinical, Population Sciences
• Research Interest Statement: My lab is dedicated to the elucidation of the genomic basis for ovarian cancer. The lab has systematically analyzed the global gene.

Contact Information

• Email Address: MJBIRRER@UAMS.EDU
• Profiles Research Networking Software: View Profile

Open Clinical Trials

• “NRG GY036 A Phase III Trial of One vs. Two Years of Maintenance Olaparib, with or Without Bevacizumab, in Patients with BRCA1/2 Mutated or Homologous Recombination Deficient (HRD+) Ovarian Cancer Following Response to First Line Platinum-Based Chemotherapy” (NCT06580314)
• “A Phase 1, First-in-Human, Open-Label Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, PK, and Preliminary Anti-Tumor Activity of the Novel Oral CDK2 DEGRADER NKT3964 in Adults with Advanced/Metastatic Solid Tumors ” (NCT06586957)
• “A Phase 1, First-in-Human Study of CTIM-76, a Claudin-6 (CLDN6)-Directed Bispecific Antibody, in Patients with Recurring Ovarian Cancer and Other Advanced Solid Tumors” (NCT06515613)
• “A First-In-Human, Phase 1/2, Open-Label, Multi-Center, Dose-Escalation, Dose-Optimization, and Dose-Expansion Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, and Anti-Tumor Activity of PARP1 Selective Inhibitor, IMP1734, as Monotherapy and in Combination in Participants with Advanced Solid Tumors” (NCT06253130)
• “A Randomized, Open Label, Two-Arm, Multicenter Phase 2 Study to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of PRGN-2009 in Combination with Pembrolizumab Versus Pembrolizumab Monotherapy in Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Cervical Cancer” (NCT06157151)
• “An Open Label, Phase 1, Treatment Study to Evaluate the Safety, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of IDE397 (MAT2A Inhibitor) in Adult Participants with Advanced Solid Tumors” (NCT04794699)
• “A Phase I/IIa, Open-label, Multi-center Study to Assess the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Preliminary Efficacy of the ATR Kinase Inhibitor ART0380 Administered Orally as Monotherapy and in Combination to Patients with Advanced or Metastatic Solid Tumors” (NCT04657068)
• “A Phase 2 Multi-center Open-label Trial of nab-Sirolimus in Combination with Letrozole in Recurrent Endometrioid Endometrial Cancer” (NCT05997017)

Active Grants

• Health Resources & Services Administration – 1 CE1HS53555-01-00
  “Cancer Care Mobile Vans, Computerized Tomography Equipment, and Lung Cancer Screening”
  Principal Investigator
  9/30/2024 – 9/29/2027
• NIH/Nat. Cancer Institute – 1U01CA294459
  “3D Spatial Multi-Omics Profiling of Ovarian Cancer”
  Principal Investigator
  9/1/2024 – 8/31/2029
• Health Resources & Services Administration – 1 CE1HS52094-01-00
  “Community Project Funding/Congressionally Directed Spending - Construction”
  Principal Investigator
  9/30/2023 – 9/29/2026
• Health Resources & Services Administration – 1 CE1HS52481-01-00
  “Cancer Care Mobile Van and Mammography Equipment”
  Principal Investigator
  9/30/2023 – 9/29/2026
• Health Resources & Services Administration – 1 CE1HS52245-01-00
  “Regional Cancer Care Facilities and Equipment”
  Principal Investigator
  9/30/2023 – 9/29/2026

Recent Publications

• Tung N, Hollis RL, Viale G, [et al., including Birrer M]. Questions and answers on PARP inhibitor use in somatic BRCA-mutated breast cancers. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2026 118(2):205-213. PMID: 40795806.
• Matulonis UA, Vergote I, Moore KN, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Safety and efficacy of mirvetuximab soravtansine, a folate receptor alpha (FRα)-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), in combination with pembrolizumab in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. Gynecologic oncology. 2025 200:96-104. PMID: 40700855.
• Zhang Z, Huang L, Brayboy L, Birrer M. Single-cell analysis of ovarian myeloid cells identifies age-associated changes in macrophages and signaling dynamics†. Biology of reproduction. 2025 113(2):373-386. PMID: 40459236.
• Bai M, Cella D, Jeon S, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Self-affirmation intervention for patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer: a preliminary efficacy trial. Journal of psychosocial oncology. 2025 43(4):593-615. PMID: 39812781.
• Moore KN, Lorusso D, Oaknin A, [et al., including Birrer M]. Safety and tolerability of mirvetuximab soravtansine monotherapy for folate receptor alpha-expressing recurrent ovarian cancer: An integrated safety summary. Gynecologic oncology. 2024 191:249-258. PMID: 39461270.
• Kjeldsen MK, Jørgensen M, Grønseth DSB, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Beyond HRD Status: Unraveling Genetic Variants Impacting PARP Inhibitor Sensitivity in Advanced Ovarian Cancer. Cancer research communications. 2024 4(12):3190-3200. PMID: 39591206. PMCID: PMC11670052.
• Andrews JT, Zhang Z, Prasad GVRK, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Metabolically active neutrophils represent a permissive niche for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mucosal immunology. 2024 17(5):825-842. PMID: 38844208. PMCID: PMC11493682.
• Birrer M, Li G, Yunokawa M, [et al.]. Bintrafusp Alfa for Recurrent or Metastatic Cervical Cancer After Platinum Failure: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial. JAMA oncology. 2024 10(9):1204-1211. PMID: 39052242. PMCID: PMC11273284.
• Scalise CB, Kincaid K, Thigpen H, [et al., including Birrer M]. A spatial proteomic study of platinum refractory HGSOC implicates dual AKT and WNT activity linked to an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Gynecologic oncology. 2024 185:83-94. PMID: 38377762.
• Ferri-Borgogno S, Burks JK, Seeley EH, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Molecular, Metabolic, and Subcellular Mapping of the Tumor Immune Microenvironment via 3D Targeted and Non-Targeted Multiplex Multi-Omics Analyses. Cancers. 2024 16(5). PMID: 38473208. PMCID: PMC10930466.
• Chowdhury S, Kennedy JJ, Ivey RG, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Proteogenomic analysis of chemo-refractory high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Cell. 2024 187(4):1016. PMID: 38364782. PMCID: PMC10935576.
• Ledermann JA, Shapira-Frommer R, Santin AD, [et al., including Birrer M]. Molecular determinants of clinical outcomes of pembrolizumab in recurrent ovarian cancer: Exploratory analysis of KEYNOTE-100. Gynecologic oncology. 2023 178:119-129. PMID: 37862791.
• Chowdhury S, Kennedy JJ, Ivey RG, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Proteogenomic analysis of chemo-refractory high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Cell. 2023 186(16):3476-3498.e35. PMID: 37541199. PMCID: PMC10414761.
• Arend R, Dholakia J, Castro C, [et al., including Birrer M]. DKK1 is a predictive biomarker for response to DKN-01: Results of a phase 2 basket study in women with recurrent endometrial carcinoma. Gynecologic oncology. 2023 172:82-91. PMID: 37001446.
• LaFargue CJ, Amero P, Noh K, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Overcoming adaptive resistance to anti-VEGF therapy by targeting CD5L. Nature communications. 2023 14(1):2407. PMID: 37100807. PMCID: PMC10133315.
• Tewari KS, Sill MW, Birrer MJ, [et al.]. Final survival analysis of topotecan and paclitaxel for first-line treatment of advanced cervical cancer: An NRG oncology randomized study. Gynecologic oncology. 2023 171:141-150. PMID: 36898292. PMCID: PMC10286827.
• Osann K, Wenzel L, McKinney C, [et al., including Birrer M]. Fear of recurrence, emotional well-being and quality of life among long-term advanced ovarian cancer survivors. Gynecologic oncology. 2023 171:151-158. PMID: 36905875. PMCID: PMC10681156.
• Penson RT, Ambrosio AJ, Whalen CA, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Phase II Trials of Iniparib (BSI-201) in Combination with Gemcitabine and Carboplatin in Patients with Recurrent Ovarian Cancer. The oncologist. 2023 28(3):252-257. PMID: 36718018. PMCID: PMC10020803.
• Sato S, Gillette M, de Santiago PR, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. LINE-1 ORF1p as a candidate biomarker in high grade serous ovarian carcinoma. Scientific reports. 2023 13(1):1537. PMID: 36707610. PMCID: PMC9883229.
• Banerjee S, Drapkin R, Richardson DL, Birrer M. Targeting NaPi2b in ovarian cancer. Cancer treatment reviews. 2023 112:102489. PMID: 36446254.
• Farley JH, Brady WE, O'Malley D, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. A phase II evaluation of temsirolimus with carboplatin and paclitaxel followed by temsirolimus consolidation in clear cell ovarian cancer: An NRG oncology trial. Gynecologic oncology. 2022 167(3):423-428. PMID: 36244829. PMCID: PMC9789681.
• Campos S, Matulonis U, Berlin S, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. A randomized phase II trial of bevacizumab vs. bevacizumab and erlotinib as first-line consolidation after carboplatin, paclitaxel, and bevacizumab in newly diagnosed patients with mullerian tumors. International journal of clinical oncology. 2022 27(12):1881-1890. PMID: 36344654.
• Casablanca Y, Wang G, Lankes HA, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Improving Risk Assessment for Metastatic Disease in Endometrioid Endometrial Cancer Patients Using Molecular and Clinical Features: An NRG Oncology/Gynecologic Oncology Group Study. Cancers. 2022 14(17). PMID: 36077609. PMCID: PMC9454742.
• Chowdhury S, Wang R, Yu Q, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. DAGBagM: learning directed acyclic graphs of mixed variables with an application to identify protein biomarkers for treatment response in ovarian cancer. BMC bioinformatics. 2022 23(1):321. PMID: 35931981. PMCID: PMC9354326.
• Swisher EM, Aghajanian C, O'Malley DM, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Impact of homologous recombination status and responses with veliparib combined with first-line chemotherapy in ovarian cancer in the Phase 3 VELIA/GOG-3005 study. Gynecologic oncology. 2022 164(2):245-253. PMID: 34906376.
• Grushko TA, Filiaci VL, Montag AG, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Effects of Slide Storage on Detection of Molecular Markers by IHC and FISH in Endometrial Cancer Tissues From a Clinical Trial: An NRG Oncology/GOG Pilot Study. Applied immunohistochemistry & molecular morphology : AIMM. 2022 30(1):27-35. PMID: 34224438. PMCID: PMC8664981.
• Bigelow EO, Harris J, Fakhry C, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Risk stratification after recurrence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related and non-HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer: Secondary analysis of NRG Oncology RTOG 0129 and 0522. Head & neck. 2022 44(1):158-167. PMID: 34729846. PMCID: PMC8783635.
• Birrer MJ, Fujiwara K, Oaknin A, [et al.]. The Changing Landscape of Systemic Treatment for Cervical Cancer: Rationale for Inhibition of the TGF-β and PD-L1 Pathways. Frontiers in oncology. 2022 12:814169. PMID: 35280818. PMCID: PMC8905681.
• Huang D, Chowdhury S, Wang H, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Multiomic analysis identifies CPT1A as a potential therapeutic target in platinum-refractory, high-grade serous ovarian cancer. Cell reports. Medicine. 2021 2(12):100471. PMID: 35028612. PMCID: PMC8714940.
• Huang D, Savage SR, Calinawan AP, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. A highly annotated database of genes associated with platinum resistance in cancer. Oncogene. 2021 40(46):6395-6405. PMID: 34645978. PMCID: PMC8602037.
• Wenzel L, Osann K, McKinney C, [et al., including Birrer M]. Quality of Life and Adverse Events: Prognostic Relationships in Long-Term Ovarian Cancer Survival. Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2021 113(10):1369-1378. PMID: 33729494. PMCID: PMC8486331.
• Krasner CN, Campos SM, Young CL, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Sequential Phase II clinical trials evaluating CRLX101 as monotherapy and in combination with bevacizumab in recurrent ovarian cancer. Gynecologic oncology. 2021 162(3):661-666. PMID: 34243976.
• Monk BJ, Colombo N, Oza AM, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Chemotherapy with or without avelumab followed by avelumab maintenance versus chemotherapy alone in patients with previously untreated epithelial ovarian cancer (JAVELIN Ovarian 100): an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial. The Lancet. Oncology. 2021 22(9):1275-1289. PMID: 34363762.
• Martinez A, Buckley M, Scalise CB, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Understanding the effect of mechanical forces on ovarian cancer progression. Gynecologic oncology. 2021 162(1):154-162. PMID: 33888338. PMCID: PMC9115803.
• Moore KN, Oza AM, Colombo N, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Phase III, randomized trial of mirvetuximab soravtansine versus chemotherapy in patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer: primary analysis of FORWARD I. Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology. 2021 32(6):757-765. PMID: 33667670.
• Buechel ME, Enserro D, Burger RA, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Correlation of imaging and plasma based biomarkers to predict response to bevacizumab in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Gynecologic oncology. 2021 161(2):382-388. PMID: 33712274. PMCID: PMC8327185.
• Zhu Y, Ferri-Borgogno S, Sheng J, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. SIO: A Spatioimageomics Pipeline to Identify Prognostic Biomarkers Associated with the Ovarian Tumor Microenvironment. Cancers. 2021 13(8). PMID: 33917869. PMCID: PMC8068305.
• Merritt MA, Strickler HD, Hutson AD, [et al., including Birrer MJ]. Sex Hormones, Insulin, and Insulin-like Growth Factors in Recurrence of High-Stage Endometrial Cancer. Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology. 2021 30(4):719-726. PMID: 33622671. PMCID: PMC8026669.