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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
Toriola, Adetunji T

Washington University
United States

Targeting RANK Pathway in Mammographic Density and Primary Breast Cancer Prevention 5R37CA235602-07 Brandy Heckman-Stoddard, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Torres, Keila Enitt

University Of Tx Md Anderson Can Ctr
United States

Use of Noninvasive Biomarkers and Advanced MRI for early detection of NF1-associated MPNSTs 5R01CA285980-02 Guillermo Marquez, Ph.D.
Tussing-Humphreys, Lisa

University Of Illinois At Chicago
United States

Effects of Time-restricted Eating versus Daily Continuous Calorie Restriction on Body Weight and Colorectal Cancer Risk Markers among Adults with Obesity 5R01CA257807-05 Nancy J. Emenaker, Ph.D., RDN, LD, FAND
Ulrich, Cornelia M

University Of Utah
United States

Adipose tissue-colorectal tumor cross-talk: new targets for breaking the obesity-cancer link 5R01CA254108-05 Asad Umar, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Upshaw, Jenica

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
United States

A randomized trial of cardioprotective strategies in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and pre-existing cardiomyopathy or prior anthracycline exposure 1R37CA300969-01 Eileen Dimond, R.N., M.S.
Upshaw, Jenica

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
United States

A randomized trial of cardioprotective strategies in newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and pre-existing cardiomyopathy or prior anthracycline exposure 1R37CA300969-01 Eileen Dimond, R.N., M.S.
Valdimarsdottir, Heiddis

Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai
United States

Systematic Light Exposure Effects on Circadian Rhythms Entrainment, Inflammation, Neutropenic Fever and Symptom Burden among Multiple Myeloma Patients undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation 5R01CA260961-04 Marjorie Perloff, M.D.
Valdimarsdottir, Heiddis

Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai
United States

Systematic Light Exposure Effects on Circadian Rhythms Entrainment, Inflammation, Neutropenic Fever and Symptom Burden among Multiple Myeloma Patients undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation 5R01CA260961-04 Marjorie Perloff, M.D.
Veiseh, Omid

Rice University
United States

Bioengineered lymphatic regenerating platform for treatment of breast cancer related lymphedema 1R01HL179534-01 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Veiseh, Omid

Rice University
United States

Bioengineered lymphatic regenerating platform for treatment of breast cancer related lymphedema 1R01HL179534-01 Goli Samimi, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Velculescu, Victor E.

Johns Hopkins University
United States

DNA evaluation of fragments for early interception (DELFI) of Lung cancer 5U01CA271896-03 Guillermo Marquez, Ph.D.
Vijayvergia, Namrata

Research Inst Of Fox Chase Can Ctr
United States

Exploring the Neuroprotective Potential of CBD in Preventing Oxaliplatin-Induced Neuropathy: A Prospective Study 1R21CA292276-01A1 Rachel Altshuler, Ph.D.
Vijayvergia, Namrata

Research Inst Of Fox Chase Can Ctr
United States

Exploring the Neuroprotective Potential of CBD in Preventing Oxaliplatin-Induced Neuropathy: A Prospective Study 1R21CA292276-01A1 Rachel Altshuler, Ph.D.
Villanueva, Augusto

Icahn School Of Medicine At Mount Sinai
United States

Liquid biopsy and radiomics for liver cancer surveillance 4U01CA283931-03 Sidney Fu, M.D.
Vinciguerra, Vincent P

Feinstein Institute For Medical Research
United States

Northwell Health NCORP 3UG1CA189850-11S2 Vanessa A. White, 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