NCI-60 Human Tumor Cell Line Screen

About the NCI-60 HTS384 Screen 

The NCI-60 Human Tumor Cell Line Screen is a free resource offered by the National Cancer Institute’s Developmental Therapeutics Program (DTP), designed to assess the anti-cancer activity of small molecules and natural products across a diverse panel of 60 human tumor cell lines.

The platform now operates using the HTS384 format—a high-throughput, 384-well plate assay with a sensitive CellTiter-Glo luminescent readout. This modernized version increases speed, throughput, and data precision while maintaining consistency with decades of historical screening results. 

Read the publication on the HTS384 screen

HTS384 Screening Methodology

Learn about HTS384 Screening Methodology

Why use the NCI-60 HTS384 Screen? 

• Access powerful screening for free 
  Submit your compounds and receive high-quality activity profiles, without screening fees.
• Identify tumor selectivity 
  Detect activity patterns across cancer types such as leukemia, colon, melanoma, lung, and CNS.
• Leverage decades of comparative data 
  Results are compatible with historical datasets and supported by the COMPARE algorithm for mechanistic insights.
• Support your grant applications and publications 
  Data from the screen can be used to strengthen research hypotheses and establish mechanistic relevance. 

What’s new in the HTS384 Format? 

A major benefit of the HTS384 screen is its strong correlation with the legacy data, allowing researchers to compare new results with over 100,000 previously screened agents.

From screen to insight: COMPARE 

Once screened, your compound data is integrated with the COMPARE tool—a publicly available platform that predicts mechanism of action by comparing activity patterns against thousands of known agents.

Learn more:

 COMPARE Tool Overview  
 

Compound Submission

Visit our guide on submitting compounds for evaluation.

Classic NCI-60 Screen (Archived)

Read information about the Classic NCI-60 Screen and Methodology.