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Last Updated: 11/21/2016

DCTD Announces Approval of Five Concepts in Precision Medicine Oncology

In September 2016, DCTD awarded 53 administrative supplement grants in six areas of precision medicine oncology. Funding for these grants was provided by FY2016 resources from President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative® (PMI) to advance health and treatments for disease through research that considers an individual’s genes, lifestyle, and environment. DCTD is continuing its efforts to support precision medicine in oncology by issuing Requests for Applications (RFAs) for grants in five of the six supplemented areas. On October 31, 2016, NCI’s Board of Scientific Advisors (BSA) approved the five RFA concepts. As a result, RFAs are being developed and will be issued in December 2016, with funding available in September 2017.

RFA Title Grant Type(s)/Mechanism Research Focus
Canine Immunotherapy Trials and Correlative Studies

U01: Up to 5 teams will form a network of academic laboratories, veterinary medicine clinical trial sites, and veterinary pharmaceutical companies

U24: A coordinating center will be assisted by NCI’s Comparative Oncology Program and NCI staff
  • Canine clinical trials using immunotherapeutic agents and novel combinations (of immune modulators, molecularly targeted agents, chemotherapy, and/or radiation)
  • Correlative studies to describe, characterize, and understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that determine the anti-tumor response (or non-response) in dogs with spontaneous tumors
Consortium for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) Translational Studies on the Tumor Microenvironment

U01: 5 Translational Single Project Grants for translational research, specimen sharing, and pre-clinical model development will form a consortium

U24: A Resource Center for administrative and bioinformatics support, and data specimen and data sharing will be developed
  • PDAC microenvironment studies to understand the interaction between tumors and the microenvironment in order to design new immunotherapy and other treatment interventions
Patient Derived Xenograft (PDX) Development and Trial Centers Network & PDX Data Commons and Coordinating Center for the PDTCRNet

U54: Up to 4 Patient Derived Xenograft Development and Trial Centers (PDTCs) will form a network

U24: A PDX Data Commons Coordinating Center (PDC) will include Bioinformatics and Administrative cores
  • Mechanism-based drug combinations in genetically or histologically defined tumor subgroups that explore the relation of the tumor characteristics to tumor drug response in PDXs
  • Application of PDX models for more efficient and precise development of NCI-IND agents in NCI’s Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN) by integrating PDTCRNet with ETCTN
Development and Clinical Application of Approaches to Identify and Treat Cancer Sensitivity or Resistance to Anticancer Therapy

U54: Up to 5 project teams will form a Specialized Drug Resistance/
Sensitivity Network (DRSN)

A Drug Resistance and Sensitivity Coordinating Committee will facilitate network activities (composed of U54 PIs and NCI staff)
  • Broad areas of drug resistance/sensitivity research, including new models and diagnostic techniques
Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers (CIMACs) Network & Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIDC) for the CIMAC Network

U24: Up to 3 CIMACs will form a network

U24: A CIDC will be developed for the CIMACs Network
  • Correlative studies and immunoprofiling analyses for specimens from: Phase 1-2 clinical trials conducted within DCTD-supported Networks/Consortia (NCTN, ETCTN, CITN, PBTC, and ABTC) and NCI-supported clinical trials from outside the established Networks/Consortia (R01, P01, P30 Cancer Centers, P50 SPOREs)