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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
Khasabov, Sergey G

University Of Minnesota
United States

Treatment of cancer pain by lipid mediator Resolvin D1: role of Prostaglandin and Endocannabinoid signaling 5R01CA263777-05 Rachel Altshuler, Ph.D.
Kibel, Adam S

Brigham And Women'S Hospital
United States

Polygenic risk stratification combined with mpMRI to identify clinically relevant prostate cancer 5U01CA268810-03 Guillermo Marquez, Ph.D.
Kim, Michelle Kang

Cleveland Clinic Lerner Com-Cwru
United States

Assessing feasibility of gastric cancer screening in the US 1R37CA300540-01 Claire Zhu, Ph.D.
Kim, Hyung L

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
United States

Intensive cholesterol-lowering intervention and anti-tumor immunity modeled in prostate cancer 5R01CA280060-03 Howard L. Parnes, M.D.
Kirkwood, Kimberly Saunders

University Of California, San Francisco
United States

Using microvolumetric cyst fluid proteolysis for early detection of pancreatic cancer 5U01CA282269-02 Matthew Young, Ph.D.
Kisiel, John

Mayo Clinic Rochester
United States

Multi-cancer Early Detection 2R01CA214679-08 Matthew Young, Ph.D.
Kleckner, Amber Simmons

University Of Maryland Baltimore
United States

Time-restricted eating to address cancer-related fatigue among survivors of hematological malignancies 5R01CA284082-02 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Kleckner, Amber Simmons

University Of Maryland Baltimore
United States

Time-restricted eating to address cancer-related fatigue among survivors of hematological malignancies 5R01CA284082-02 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Klein, Alison P

Johns Hopkins University
United States

Improving Management of patients at High Risk of Pancreatic Cancer 1R01CA299421-01 Matthew Young, Ph.D.
Klopp, Ann

University Of Tx Md Anderson Can Ctr
United States

Defining a globally accessible and pragmatic predictive signature (GAPPS) for locally advanced cervical cancer 1R01CA301124-01 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Knoerl, Robert James

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor
United States

Determining the Feasibility of Virtual Tailored, Music-Based Relaxation for Anxiety Among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. 5R34CA286712-02 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Knoerl, Robert James

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor
United States

Determining the Feasibility of Virtual Tailored, Music-Based Relaxation for Anxiety Among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. 5R34CA286712-02 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Knoerl, Robert James

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor
United States

Determining the Feasibility of Virtual Tailored, Music-Based Relaxation for Anxiety Among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. 5R34CA286712-02 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Knoerl, Robert James

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor
United States

Determining the Feasibility of Virtual Tailored, Music-Based Relaxation for Anxiety Among Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors. 5R34CA286712-02 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Kober, Kord Michael

University Of California, San Francisco
United States

An Investigation of the Molecular Mechanisms for and Prediction of the Severity of Cancer Chemotherapy-Related Fatigue Using a Multi-staged Integrated Omics Approach 5R37CA233774-07 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.

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