Laura Van T Veer, PhD
Professor
Laboratory Medicine
School of Medicine

Dr. van ‘t Veer is a world renowned Molecular Biologist and inventor of MammaPrint®. A recent publication in the New England Journal of Medicine on the MINDACT trial shows that 46% of breast cancer patients who are clinically high risk and are therefor considered for chemotherapy, can safely forgo this treatment based on a Low Risk MammaPrint result (NEJM 2016, Aug 25). Dr. van 't Veer's research focuses on personalized medicine, to advance patient management based on knowledge of the genetic make-up of the tumor as well as the genetic make-up of the patient. This allows clinicians to optimally assign systemic therapy for those patients in need of such treatment, and to ensure the selection of the therapy that is most effective. Dr. van ‘t Veer’s research shows that molecular diagnostics and microarray genomics technology increasingly impact patient management. Molecular genomics contributes to the knowledge of who is at risk for breast cancer, how external factors may influence this risk, whether breast tumors are likely to metastasize or not, and which subtype of tumors will likely respond to what therapy. Her current research, involving genomics data from various types, is aimed to understand the molecular basis for early response to therapy as a surrogate for outcome prediction.

Dr. van ‘t Veer is the Biomarker Committee Chair for the Foundation of NIH sponsored multicenter adaptive clinical trial I-SPY 2, overseeing the processes for FDA-IDE biomarker usage and qualifying biomarker companion diagnostic testing. She served 2010-2014 as Board member of the American Association of Cancer Research. She has over 230 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is co-inventor of 6 patents. Dr. van 't Veer received the 2007 European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) life-time achievement award for translational research in breast cancer and the prestigious European Union Women Innovator Award, 2nd prize in 2014.

Dr. van ‘t Veer received undergraduate training in biology and a master of science in molecular oncology (1984) at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She earned her PhD in Medicine for a dissertation on oncogene activation and tumorigenesis in 1989 at the University of Leiden. She then completed two postdoctoral fellowships, first at the Cancer Center of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (1989-1991), followed by the Division of Molecular Carcinogenesis at The Netherlands Cancer Institute (1992-1993). She then joined The Netherlands Cancer Institute as a Molecular Biologist in the Department of Pathology. At the institute she assumed increasing responsibilities, starting with the initiation and leadership of the Departments of Molecular Pathology and Genetic Counseling, culminating with her appointment as the Head of Diagnostic Oncology, overseeing the clinical work and associated research. In 2003 she was one of the founders of the Netherlands Cancer Institute spin-off, the molecular profiling company Agendia. Concurrent to her employment at The Netherlands Cancer Institute Dr. van ‘t Veer served as the Chief Operating Officer from 2002-2007 and as the Chief Research Officer from 2007-2014 for Agenda NV, a company she founded in Amsterdam to make her scientific discoveries available to clinicians for patient use. MammaPrint® obtained the first FDA 510K ‘In Vitro Diagnostic Multigene Index Assay’ (IVDMIA) clearance in 2007, and is included in several international and national guidelines for breast cancer management.

After a 2008-2009 appointment as Visiting Associate Professor at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Cancer Center, Dr. van ‘t Veer moved to UCSF as Professor of Laboratory Medicine in 2010 and assumed leadership of the Bay Area Breast Cancer SPORE and the BOP. In 2011 she assumed leadership of the Athena Breast Health Network at UCSF. She holds the Angela and Shu Kai Chan Endowed Chair in Cancer Research. She has established at UCSF a Laboratory for Applied Genomics that is CLIA licensed and provides a robust infrastructure and testing incubator lab for new molecular diagnostics of cancer.

• 70-Gene Signature as an Aid to Treatment Decisions in Early-Stage Breast Cancer.
  The New England journal of medicine 2016 Cardoso F, van't Veer LJ, Bogaerts J, Slaets L, Viale G, Delaloge S, Pierga JY, Brain E, Causeret S, DeLorenzi M, Glas AM, Golfinopoulos V, Goulioti T, Knox S, Matos E, Meulemans B, Neijenhuis PA, …
• TP53 germline mutation testing in 180 families suspected of Li-Fraumeni syndrome: mutation detection rate and relative frequency of cancers in different familial phenotypes.
  Journal of medical genetics 2010 Ruijs MW, Verhoef S, Rookus MA, Pruntel R, van der Hout AH, Hogervorst FB, Kluijt I, Sijmons RH, Aalfs CM, Wagner A, Ausems MG, Hoogerbrugge N, van Asperen CJ, Gomez Garcia EB, Meijers-Heijboer H, Ten…
• The predictive value of the 70-gene signature for adjuvant chemotherapy in early breast cancer.
  Breast cancer research and treatment 2010 Knauer M, Mook S, Rutgers EJ, Bender RA, Hauptmann M, van de Vijver MJ, Koornstra RH, Bueno-de-Mesquita JM, Linn SC, van 't Veer LJ
• Radiation-associated breast tumors display a distinct gene expression profile.
  International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics 2010 Broeks A, Braaf LM, Wessels LF, van de Vijver M, De Bruin ML, Stovall M, Russell NS, van Leeuwen FE, Van 't Veer LJ
• Complex landscapes of somatic rearrangement in human breast cancer genomes.
  Nature 2009 Stephens PJ, McBride DJ, Lin ML, Varela I, Pleasance ED, Simpson JT, Stebbings LA, Leroy C, Edkins S, Mudie LJ, Greenman CD, Jia M, Latimer C, Teague JW, Lau KW, Burton J, Quail MA, Swerdlow H, …
• The 70-gene prognosis signature predicts early metastasis in breast cancer patients between 55 and 70 years of age.
  Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology 2009 Mook S, Schmidt MK, Weigelt B, Kreike B, Eekhout I, van de Vijver MJ, Glas AM, Floore A, Rutgers EJT, van 't Veer LJ
• Clinical relevance of the triple-negative breast cancer concept: genetic basis and clinical utility of the concept.
  European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990) 2009 Linn SC, Van 't Veer LJ
• A comprehensive analysis of prognostic signatures reveals the high predictive capacity of the proliferation, immune response and RNA splicing modules in breast cancer.
  Breast cancer research : BCR 2008 Reyal F, van Vliet MH, Armstrong NJ, Horlings HM, de Visser KE, Kok M, Teschendorff AE, Mook S, van 't Veer L, Caldas C, Salmon RJ, van de Vijver MJ, Wessels LF
• Recent advances in metastasis research.
  Current opinion in genetics & development 2008 Molloy T, van 't Veer LJ
• The spectrum of ATM missense variants and their contribution to contralateral breast cancer.
  Breast cancer research and treatment 2007 Broeks A, Braaf LM, Huseinovic A, Schmidt MK, Russell NS, van Leeuwen FE, Hogervorst FB, Van 't Veer LJ
• Identification of women with an increased risk of developing radiation-induced breast cancer: a case only study.
  Breast cancer research : BCR 2007 Broeks A, Braaf LM, Huseinovic A, Nooijen A, Urbanus J, Hogervorst FB, Schmidt MK, Klijn JG, Russell NS, Van Leeuwen FE, Van 't Veer LJ
• Gene signature evaluation as a prognostic tool: challenges in the design of the MINDACT trial.
  Nature clinical practice. Oncology 2006 Bogaerts J, Cardoso F, Buyse M, Braga S, Loi S, Harrison JA, Bines J, Mook S, Decker N, Ravdin P, Therasse P, Rutgers E, van 't Veer LJ, Piccart M, TRANSBIG consortium
• Effect of short-term hormone replacement therapy on breast cancer risk reduction after bilateral prophylactic oophorectomy in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers: the PROSE Study Group.
  Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2005 Rebbeck TR, Friebel T, Wagner T, Lynch HT, Garber JE, Daly MB, Isaacs C, Olopade OI, Neuhausen SL, van 't Veer L, Eeles R, Evans DG, Tomlinson G, Matloff E, Narod SA, Eisen A, Domchek S, Armstrong K, …
• Breast cancer metastasis: markers and models.
  Nature reviews. Cancer 2005 Weigelt B, Peterse JL, van 't Veer LJ
• Laura van 't Veer, PhD: bringing tumor gene profiles into the clinic. Interview.
  JAMA 2004 van 't Veer L
• Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-system mRNA quantities in normal and tumor breast tissue of women with sporadic and familial breast cancer risk.
  Breast cancer research and treatment 2004 Voskuil DW, Bosma A, Vrieling A, Rookus MA, van 't Veer LJ
• [Genetic research with stored human tissue: a coding procedure with optimal use of information and protection of privacy].
  Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde 2004 Schmidt MK, van Leeuwen FE, Klaren HM, Tollenaar RA, van 't Veer LJ
• Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy reduces breast cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers: the PROSE Study Group.
  Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2004 Rebbeck TR, Friebel T, Lynch HT, Neuhausen SL, van 't Veer L, Garber JE, Evans GR, Narod SA, Isaacs C, Matloff E, Daly MB, Olopade OI, Weber BL
• Are ATM mutations 7271T-->G and IVS10-6T-->G really high-risk breast cancer-susceptibility alleles?
  Cancer research 2004 Szabo CI, Schutte M, Broeks A, Houwing-Duistermaat JJ, Thorstenson YR, Durocher F, Oldenburg RA, Wasielewski M, Odefrey F, Thompson D, Floore AN, Kraan J, Klijn JG, van den Ouweland AM, Wagner TM, …
• Expression of a novel lacrimal gland gene lacritin in human breast tissues.
  Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology 2003 Weigelt B, Bosma AJ, van 't Veer LJ
• Marker genes for circulating tumour cells predict survival in metastasized breast cancer patients.
  British journal of cancer 2003 Weigelt B, Bosma AJ, Hart AA, Rodenhuis S, van 't Veer LJ
• [From gene to disease; ataxia telangiectasia].
  Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde 2003 Broeks A, van 't Veer LJ, Ottenheim C, Hiel JA, Kleijer WJ, Weemaes C
• Expression profiling predicts outcome in breast cancer.
  Breast cancer research : BCR 2002 van 't Veer LJ, Dai H, van de Vijver MJ, He YD, Hart AA, Bernards R, Friend SH
• Detection of circulating breast tumor cells by differential expression of marker genes.
  Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 2002 Bosma AJ, Weigelt B, Lambrechts AC, Verhagen OJ, Pruntel R, Hart AA, Rodenhuis S, van 't Veer LJ
• Gene expression profiling predicts clinical outcome of breast cancer.
  Nature 2002 van 't Veer LJ, Dai H, van de Vijver MJ, He YD, Hart AA, Mao M, Peterse HL, van der Kooy K, Marton MJ, Witteveen AT, Schreiber GJ, Kerkhoven RM, Roberts C, Linsley PS, Bernards R, Friend SH
• The microarray way to tailored cancer treatment.
  Nature medicine 2002 Van 't Veer LJ, De Jong D
• ATM-heterozygous germline mutations contribute to breast cancer-susceptibility.
  American journal of human genetics 2000 Broeks A, Urbanus JH, Floore AN, Dahler EC, Klijn JG, Rutgers EJ, Devilee P, Russell NS, van Leeuwen FE, van 't Veer LJ
• Differences in estrogen receptor alpha variant messenger RNAs between normal human breast tissue and primary breast carcinomas.
  Cancer research 2000 van Dijk MA, Hart AA, van 't Veer LJ
• Translational research offers individually tailored treatments for cancer patients.
  The cancer journal from Scientific American 2000 Bartelink H, Begg AC, Martin JC, van Dijk M, Moonen L, van 't Veer LJ, Van de Vaart P, Verheij M
• Characteristics of small breast and/or ovarian cancer families with germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2.
  British journal of cancer 1999 Ligtenberg MJ, Hogervorst FB, Willems HW, Arts PJ, Brink G, Hageman S, Bosgoed EA, Van der Looij E, Rookus MA, Devilee P, Vos EM, Wigbout G, Struycken PM, Menko FH, Rutgers EJ, Hoefsloot EH, Mariman …
• [Epstein-Barr virus in a donor kidney as a cause of non-Hodgkin lymphoma].
  Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde 1999 Kersten MJ, Surachno S, Koopman MG, van 't Veer LJ, Pals ST, van Oers MH
• [The role of genetic factors in the development of gastric cancer].
  Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde 1999 Taal BG, van Loon HJ, Kahn N, de Jong D, Vasen HF, van 't Veer LJ
• Towards prediction and modulation of treatment response.
  Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology 1999 Bartelink H, Begg A, Martin JC, van Dijk M, van 't Veer L, van der Vaart P, Verheij M
• The detection of minimal numbers of contaminating epithelial tumor cells in blood or bone marrow: use, limitations and future of RNA-based methods.
  Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology 1998 Lambrechts AC, van 't Veer LJ, Rodenhuis S
• The use of 4-aminobiphenyl hemoglobin adducts and aromatic DNA adducts in lymphocytes of smokers as biomarkers of exposure.
  Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology 1998 Dallinga JW, Pachen DM, Wijnhoven SW, Breedijk A, van 't Veer L, Wigbout G, van Zandwijk N, Maas LM, van Agen E, Kleinjans JC, van Schooten FJ
• Differences in aromatic-DNA adduct levels between alveolar macrophages and subpopulations of white blood cells from smokers.
  Carcinogenesis 1998 Godschalk RW, Maas LM, Van Zandwijk N, van 't Veer LJ, Breedijk A, Borm PJ, Verhaert J, Kleinjans JC, van Schooten FJ
• Multiple malignancies in a patient with bilateral retinoblastoma.
  The Journal of laryngology and otology 1998 Ceha HM, Balm AJ, de Jong D, van 't Veer LJ
• ATM germline mutations in classical ataxia-telangiectasia patients in the Dutch population.
  Human mutation 1998 Broeks A, de Klein A, Floore AN, Muijtjens M, Kleijer WJ, Jaspers NG, van 't Veer LJ
• The role of prognostic factors and oncogenes in the detection and management of non-small-cell lung cancer.
  Oncology (Williston Park, N.Y.) 1998 Van Zandwijk N, Van 't Veer LJ
• A method to monitor mRNA levels in human breast tumor cells obtained by fine-needle aspiration.
  Diagnostic molecular pathology : the American journal of surgical pathology, part B 1997 de Lange MS, Top B, Lambrechts C, Maas RA, Peterse HL, Mooi WJ, van 't Veer LJ, Rodenhuis S
• BRCA1 genomic deletions are major founder mutations in Dutch breast cancer patients.
  Nature genetics 1997 Petrij-Bosch A, Peelen T, van Vliet M, van Eijk R, Olmer R, Drüsedau M, Hogervorst FB, Hageman S, Arts PJ, Ligtenberg MJ, Meijers-Heijboer H, Klijn JG, Vasen HF, Cornelisse CJ, van 't Veer LJ, Bakker …
• A functional assay in yeast for the human estrogen receptor displays wild-type and variant estrogen receptor messenger RNAs present in breast carcinoma.
  Cancer research 1997 van Dijk MA, Floore AN, Kloppenborg KI, van 't Veer LJ
• Oligoclonal peripheral T-cell lymphocytosis as a result of aberrant T-cell development in a cortical thymoma.
  Diagnostic molecular pathology : the American journal of surgical pathology, part B 1997 de Jong D, Richel DJ, Schenkeveld C, Boerrigter L, van 't Veer LJ
• The XPB subunit of repair/transcription factor TFIIH directly interacts with SUG1, a subunit of the 26S proteasome and putative transcription factor.
  Nucleic acids research 1997 Weeda G, Rossignol M, Fraser RA, Winkler GS, Vermeulen W, van 't Veer LJ, Ma L, Hoeijmakers JH, Egly JM
• Identification of Bmi1-interacting proteins as constituents of a multimeric mammalian polycomb complex.
  Genes & development 1997 Alkema MJ, Bronk M, Verhoeven E, Otte A, van 't Veer LJ, Berns A, van Lohuizen M
• RalGDS-like factor (Rlf) is a novel Ras and Rap 1A-associating protein.
  Oncogene 1996 Wolthuis RM, Bauer B, van 't Veer LJ, de Vries-Smits AM, Cool RH, Spaargaren M, Wittinghofer A, Burgering BM, Bos JL
• E2F-5, a new E2F family member that interacts with p130 in vivo.
  Molecular and cellular biology 1995 Hijmans EM, Voorhoeve PM, Beijersbergen RL, van 't Veer LJ, Bernards R
• Activation of the mas oncogene involves coupling to human alphoid sequences.
  Oncogene 1993 van 't Veer LJ, van der Feltz MJ, van den Berg-Bakker CA, Cheng NC, Hermens RP, van Oorschot DA, Kievits T, Schrier PI
• TATA-binding protein and the retinoblastoma gene product bind to overlapping epitopes on c-Myc and adenovirus E1A protein.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1993 Hateboer G, Timmers HT, Rustgi AK, Billaud M, van 't Veer LJ, Bernards R
• N-myc suppresses major histocompatibility complex class I gene expression through down-regulation of the p50 subunit of NF-kappa B.
  The EMBO journal 1993 van 't Veer LJ, Beijersbergen RL, Bernards R
• Structure and expression of major histocompatibility complex-binding protein 2, a 275-kDa zinc finger protein that binds to an enhancer of major histocompatibility complex class I genes.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1992 van 't Veer LJ, Lutz PM, Isselbacher KJ, Bernards R
• Sensitivity of melanoma cell lines to natural killer cells: a role for oncogene-modulated HLA class I expression?
  Seminars in cancer biology 1991 Schrier PI, Versteeg R, Peltenburg LT, Plomp AC, van 't Veer LJ, Krüse-Wolters KM
• Two genes encode factors with NF-kappa B- and H2TF1-like DNA-binding properties.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 1990 Rustgi AK, Van 't Veer LJ, Bernards R
• N-ras mutations in human cutaneous melanoma from sun-exposed body sites.
  Molecular and cellular biology 1989 van 't Veer LJ, Burgering BM, Versteeg R, Boot AJ, Ruiter DJ, Osanto S, Schrier PI, Bos JL
• cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)-resistant sublines derived from two human ovarian tumor cell lines.
  Cancer research 1988 Kuppen PJ, Schuitemaker H, van 't Veer LJ, de Bruijn EA, van Oosterom AT, Schrier PI
• ras oncogene activation in human ovarian carcinoma.
  Oncogene 1988 van 't Veer LJ, Hermens R, van den Berg-Bakker LA, Cheng NC, Fleuren GJ, Bos JL, Cleton FJ, Schrier PI
• High frequency of mas oncogene activation detected in the NIH3T3 tumorigenicity assay.
  Oncogene research 1988 van 't Veer LJ, van den Berg-Bakker LA, Hermens RP, Deprez RL, Schrier PI
• Molecular cloning and chromosomal assignment of the human homolog of int-1, a mouse gene implicated in mammary tumorigenesis.
  Molecular and cellular biology 1984 van 't Veer LJ, van Kessel AG, van Heerikhuizen H, van Ooyen A, Nusse R