Maria Bhatt

Maria Bhatt has extensively investigated mechanisms by which HR+ breast cancers acquire resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors plus endocrine therapy, identifying molecular alterations that characterize resistant tumors. Her research discovered that Rb tumor suppressor loss through deletion or mutation is a common mechanism of CDK4/6 inhibitor resistance that eliminates the primary cell cycle checkpoint target, and that such tumors may be particularly vulnerable to alternative targeting strategies. She has characterized CDK2 amplification, cyclin E overexpression, and cyclin-dependent kinase bypass as additional acquired resistance mechanisms, identifying CDK2 as a potential target after CDK4/6 inhibitor failure. Her work on serial tumor biopsies and ctDNA profiling has mapped the evolution of resistance to combination CDK4/6 plus endocrine therapy in the metastatic HR+ breast cancer setting.