Cynthia Ma, MD, PhD

Medical Oncologist

Primary Academic Title

Professor of Medicine, Division of Oncology, Section of Breast Oncology, WashU Medicine

Clinical Expertise

Breast cancer

Research Interest

Breast cancer, endocrine therapy, developmental therapeutics, biomarkers and pharmacogenetics.

Education

1990: MD, Beijing Medical University
1997: PhD, developmental biology, University of Cincinnati

Training

1990 - 1991: Resident, internal medicine and endocrinology, Beijing Medical University
1997 - 1998: Postdoctoral fellow, endocrinology and oncology, University of Cincinnati
1998 - 2001: Intern and resident, internal medicine, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Wilmington, N.C.
2001 - 2005: Fellow, hematology and oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Board Certification

2001: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine
2004: American Board of Internal Medicine, Hematology
2005: American Board of Internal Medicine, Medical Oncology

Selected Research Publications

Unraveling TIME: CD8+ T cell- and CXCL11-driven endocrine resistance in breast cancer.

Kong T, Ma CX
J Clin Invest 2026

Biomarkers of response to neoadjuvant palbociclib plus anastrozole in endocrine-resistant estrogen receptor-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer: a phase 2 trial.

Kong T, Mabry A, Highkin M, [...] Ma CX
Nat Commun 2026

Circulating Tumor Cell Dynamics after CDK4/6 Inhibitor for Hormone Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Biomarker Analysis from the PACE Phase II Study.

Gerratana L, Reduzzi C, Ren Y, [...] Ma CX, [...] Mayer EL
Clin Cancer Res 2025

First-Line Camizestrant for Emerging ESR1-Mutated Advanced Breast Cancer.

Bidard FC, Mayer EL, Park YH, [...] Ma C, [...] Turner NC
N Engl J Med 2025

A bedside-to-bench translational analysis of NF1 alterations and CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance in hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer.

Lloyd MR, Chica-Parrado R, Weipert CM, [...] Ma CX, [...] Wander SA
EBioMedicine 2025

Detection of Circulating Tumor DNA Using a Tissue-Free Epigenomic Assay Is a Highly Prognostic Biomarker in Early-Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

Ademuyiwa FO, Ma CX, Weilbaecher K, [...] Davis A
Clin Cancer Res 2025

Novel treatment approaches utilizing antibody-drug conjugates in breast cancer.

Davis AA, Hesse J, Pereira PMR, Ma CX
NPJ Breast Cancer 2025

Stabilization of RUNX1 Induced by O-GlcNAcylation Promotes PDGF-BB-Mediated Resistance to CDK4/6 Inhibitors in Breast Cancer.

Zhou S, Zhang Y, Belmar J, [...] Ma CX, [...] Zhu W
Cancer Res 2025

Stroma-derived Dickkopf-1 contributes to the suppression of NK cell cytotoxicity in breast cancer.

Lee S, Ricci B, Tran J, [...] Ma CX, [...] Faccio R
Nat Commun 2025

Integrating machine learning-predicted circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in metastatic breast cancer: A proof of principle study on endocrine resistance profiling.

Gerratana L, Davis AA, Foffano L, [...] Ma CX, [...] Cristofanilli M
Cancer Lett 2025

Advanced Minimal Residual Disease Detection Using a Novel Circulating Tumor DNA Assay: A Report of Two Cases.

Azzi G, Slavin TP, Izaguirre-Carbonell J, [...] Ma CX
Case Rep Oncol 2025

Imlunestrant, an Oral Selective Estrogen Receptor Degrader, as Monotherapy and in Combination With Targeted Therapy in Estrogen Receptor-Positive, Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Negative Advanced Breast Cancer: Phase Ia/Ib EMBER Study.

Jhaveri KL, Lim E, Jeselsohn R, Ma CX, [...] Beeram M
J Clin Oncol 2024

Neoantigen DNA vaccines are safe, feasible, and induce neoantigen-specific immune responses in triple-negative breast cancer patients.

Zhang X, Goedegebuure SP, Chen MY, [...] Ma CX, [...] Gillanders WE
Genome Med 2024

Differential chromatin accessibility and transcriptional dynamics define breast cancer subtypes and their lineages.

Iglesia MD, Jayasinghe RG, Chen S, [...] Ma C, [...] Ding L
Nat Cancer 2024

O-GlcNAcylation of MITF regulates its activity and CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance in breast cancer.

Zhang Y, Zhou S, Kai Y, [...] Ma CX, [...] Zhu W
Nat Commun 2024

View All Publications

Contact Information

Gary C. Werths Building at Siteman Cancer Center

4500 Forest Park Avenue
Saint Louis, MO 63108

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