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Discovery and Development of Natural Products for Cancer Interception and Prevention (DDNP-CIP)

There are ~500,000 semi-purified products of plants, marine life, and microbes in the NCI Natural Product Collection

The Discovery and Development of Natural Products for Cancer Interception and Prevention Program (DDNP-CIP) supports the discovery and development of new natural products that are safe, non-toxic, and useful for cancer interception and prevention. Given the wide range of chemical diversity found in natural products around the world, they present an opportunity to discover biologically active compounds with unique structures and mechanisms of action. However, only a small percentage of them have been screened and evaluated for their potential in cancer prevention. NCI has one of the most diverse libraries of semi-purified natural product fractions in the world that are readily available to the research community for further testing. DDNP-CIP investigators are using new techniques, including high-throughput screening strategies, to screen natural products for activity in pathways to intercept and prevent cancer.

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About DDNP-CIP

The Discovery and Development of Natural Products for Cancer Interception and Prevention (DDNP-CIP) Program’s overall research objectives are to:

  • Identify and select clinically relevant cancer interception and prevention pathways and targets in natural products;
  • Develop robust high-throughput screening strategies and specific cell-based and/or cell-free assays to screen non-toxic natural agents;
  • Screen, purify, and identify the structure of active natural compounds;
  • Develop models that could be used to guide the selection of preventive agents active in assays.

The flow chart below shows the steps for discovery and development of natural products for cancer prevention The National Cancer Institute supports the process across divisions and the NCI Program for Natural Product Discovery (NPNPD). In addition, the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) supports this process.

Flow chart of the DDNP-CIP
The research may use a design along the continuum (such as clinically relevant cancer interception target selection and verification in both preclinical in vivo and clinical samples, assay development or validation, prototype high-throughput screening (HTS), pilot and full scale HTS using NCI libraries with greater than 500,000 semi-purified NP samples or investigator owned libraries, optimization of drug leads (through medicinal chemistry efforts), purification and structural elucidation of active natural compounds, secondary screening, in vivo testing, and dose optimization) with the NCI DCP, DCTD or NCATS support. Once promising interventions with in vivo efficacies and lack of toxicities are identified, these natural agents can enter the NCI PREVENT pipeline for advanced preclinical development followed by moving to clinical trials through CP-CTNet program.


Investigators in the Discovery and Development of Natural Products for Cancer Interception and Prevention take advantage of NCI’s large library of “ready-to-screen,” pre-fractionated natural products to speed up bioassay-directed isolation and characterization of potential prevention agents. New natural agents discovered will move to the existing advanced preclinical development program, PREVENT, for further development towards early phase cancer prevention clinical trials by the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network.

Funding Opportunity

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Grantee Details

PI Name Sort descending PI Organization Title Grant Number Program Official
Santomasso, Bianca Denise

Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research
United States

Comprehensive Molecular and Clinical Characterization of Acute and Chronic Neurotoxicity Following CAR-T Cell Therapy 5R01CA293922-02 Monica Epstein, B.S.N., RN, OCN
Santomasso, Bianca Denise

Sloan-Kettering Inst Can Research
United States

Comprehensive Molecular and Clinical Characterization of Acute and Chronic Neurotoxicity Following CAR-T Cell Therapy 5R01CA293922-02 Monica Epstein, B.S.N., RN, OCN
Santos-Reyes, Luis Javier

Comprehensive Cancer Center/ Univ/Pr
United States

Puerto Rico NCI Community Oncology Research Program (Puerto Rico NCORP) 3UG1CA189862-11S1 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Santos-Reyes, Luis Javier

Comprehensive Cancer Center/ Univ/Pr
United States

Puerto Rico NCI Community Oncology Research Program (Puerto Rico NCORP) 3UG1CA189862-11S1 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Saphner, Thomas J

Aurora Health Care, Inc.
United States

Aurora NCORP Community Site 3UG1CA190140-11S1 Vanessa A. White, M.P.H.
Saphner, Thomas J

Aurora Health Care, Inc.
United States

Aurora NCORP Community Site 3UG1CA190140-11S1 Vanessa A. White, M.P.H.
Schallenkamp, John M.

Montana Cancer Consortium
United States

Montana Cancer Consortium: An Inclusive and Collaborative Approach to Clinical Trial Accrual and Cancer Care Delivery Research across Montana, Idaho and Wyoming 3UG1CA189872-11S1 Vanessa A. White, M.P.H.
Schallenkamp, John M.

Montana Cancer Consortium
United States

Montana Cancer Consortium: An Inclusive and Collaborative Approach to Clinical Trial Accrual and Cancer Care Delivery Research across Montana, Idaho and Wyoming 3UG1CA189872-11S1 Vanessa A. White, M.P.H.
Schaverien, Mark V

University Of Tx Md Anderson Can Ctr
United States

Lymphedema Prevention Through Immediate Lymphatic Reconstruction 5R01CA292908-02 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Schaverien, Mark V

University Of Tx Md Anderson Can Ctr
United States

Lymphedema Prevention Through Immediate Lymphatic Reconstruction 5R01CA292908-02 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Schedin, Pepper J

Oregon Health & Science University
United States

NSAIDs During Postpartum Involution for Breast Cancer Chemoprevention 5R01CA169175-11 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Schenker, Yael

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh
United States

Patient-centered and efficacious advance care planning in cancer: the PEACe comparative effectiveness trial 5R01CA235730-06 Brennan Streck, Ph.D., RN, M.P.H.
Schmidt, Christian Maximillian

Indiana University Indianapolis
United States

Longitudinal Proteomic and Metabolomic Predictors of Pancreatic Cyst Malignant Progression and Early Stage Pancreatic Cancer 5U01CA239522-05 Claire Zhu, Ph.D.
Schmit, Stephanie L.

Cleveland Clinic Lerner Com-Cwru
United States

Variation in tumor-associated immune profiles and colorectal cancer outcomes 5R01CA248931-05 Asad Umar, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Schoen, Robert E.

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh
United States

Blood-Based Testing for Advanced Adenoma 5U01CA271884-04 Matthew Young, Ph.D.

A pre-application webinar was held on May 5, 2023, and recorded. The next application due date is June 13, 2025. 

Program Contact(s)

Altaf Mohammed, Ph.D. 
Email: altaf.mohammed@nih.gov