National Cancer Institute - NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and ...

Correlative Studies with
Specimens from Multisite Trials
Program Announcements:
PA-05-062: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/
guide/pa-files/PA-05-062.html (expiration date
3/2/2008) and PA-06-296: http://grants.nih.
gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-296.html
(expiration date 3/2/2008)
Contact:
Heng Xie, M.D., M.P.H.
301-496-8866, xiehe@mail.nih.gov
Over the past five years, NCI has sponsored
more than 1500 clinical trials, including
cancer treatment and prevention trials.
More than 200,000 cancer patients have
participated in these trials. CDP, in collaboration
with other NCI programs, is tapping
into the wealth of tumor specimens and
accompanying information about patients
that is available through these myriad
trials. The tumor specimens can be used
to evaluate and possibly validate diagnostic
and prognostic biomarkers. They can
be used to evaluate molecules and proteins
relating to cell cycle or intracellular
signal transduction pathways, as well as
to provide informative molecular profiles
relevant to cancer intervention and
progression. These extremely valuable
resources offer a tremendous opportunity
to identify new mechanisms and
develop more effective cancer interventions
at a molecular level. The next step is
to conduct clinical translational research
on promising predictive and prognostic
tumor markers.
This funding opportunity will use the
R01 investigator-initiated research grant
mechanism to support clinical correlative
studies on large, multi-institutional clinical
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CDP is homing in on clinical correlative or mechanistic studies
that will be useful for cancer risk assessment, early detection,
and prognosis, as well as predicting responses to therapy
and prevention interventions.
trials to validate promising tumor markers
and the exploratory/pilot grant mechanism
(R21) to support pilot exploratory
studies. Because the nature and scope of
the proposed research will vary, the size
and duration of the awards will also vary,
although funding under the R21 mechanism
is limited to two years. Through these
grants, CDP is encouraging researchers to
take advantage of newly developed technologies
and existing tumor specimens.
By fostering collaborations among basic
researchers, scientists working in private
industry, and clinical investigators, CDP is
homing in on clinical correlative or mechanistic
studies that will be useful for cancer
risk assessment, early detection, and prognosis,
as well as predicting responses to
therapy and prevention interventions.
C A N C E R D I A G N O S I S P R O G R A M ■ 35