The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

(NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

. The NCI conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other activities related to the causes, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer; the supportive care of cancer patients and their families; and cancer survivorship. NCI is the oldest and has the largest budget and research program of the 27 institutes and centers of the NIH ($6.9 billion in 2020). It fulfills the majority of its mission via an extramural program that provides

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

for cancer research. Additionally, the National Cancer Institute has intramural research programs in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, and at the

Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research The Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR) is a United States federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) supported by the National Cancer Institute and managed by the private contractor Leidos Biomedical Research. ...

Fort Detrick Fort Detrick () is a United States Army Futures Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland. Historically, Fort Detrick was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969. Since the discontinuation of that program, i ...

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...

. The NCI receives more than in funding each year. The NCI supports a nationwide network of 71

NCI-designated Cancer Center NCI-designated Cancer Centers are a group of 71 cancer research institutions in the United States supported by the National Cancer Institute. Program Three designations are recognized: Comprehensive Cancer Centers, Clinical Cancer Centers, and Ba ...

s with a dedicated focus on cancer research and treatment and maintains the National Clinical Trials Network.

History

Timeline

* August 5, 1937: President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

signed into law the National Cancer Institute Act (Pub. Law 75-244; 50 Stat. 559), which established the National Cancer Institute, as a division of the

Public Health Service In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

. * 1940: The first issue of the ''

Journal of the National Cancer Institute The ''Journal of the National Cancer Institute'' (''JNCI'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in oncology that was established in August 1940. It is published monthly by Oxford University Press and is edited by Patricia A. Ganz ...

'' was published. * 1944: The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

made the NCI an operating division of the

by its passage of the

Public Health Service Act The Public Health Service Act is a United States federal law enacted in 1944. The full act is codified in Title 42 of the United States Code (The Public Health and Welfare), Chapter 6A (Public Health Service). Contents The act clearly establis ...

. Congress later amended the

with the

National Cancer Act of 1971 The "war on cancer" is the effort to find a cure for cancer by increased research to improve the understanding of cancer biology and the development of more effective cancer treatments, such as targeted drug therapies. The aim of such efforts is t ...

, to broaden the scope and responsibilities of the NCI "in order more effectively to carry out the national effort against cancer." * 1955: NCI established the Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program, which included several research networks that conducted cancer clinical research primarily under the sponsorship of NCI. * 1957: The first cancer,

choriocarcinoma Choriocarcinoma is a malignant, trophoblastic cancer, usually of the placenta. It is characterized by early hematogenous spread to the lungs. It belongs to the malignant end of the spectrum in gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD). It is also cl ...

, was cured with

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

at NCI. * 1960: NCI began funding

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

-supported cancer centers. * 1971: President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

converted the

U.S. Army's The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

former

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war. Bio ...

facilities at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, to house research activities on the causes, treatment, and prevention of cancer. * 1971: The

declares "war on cancer," establishes the National Cancer Advisory Board, and allots additional funding for cancer research. * 1975: The

opened in Frederick, Maryland, as a

Federally Funded Research and Development Center Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) are public-private partnerships that conduct research and development for the United States Government. Under Federal Acquisition Regulationbr>§ 35.017 FFRDCs are operated by unive ...

* 1993: The

NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late 1 ...

encourages NCI to expand its efforts in prostate cancer, breast and other cancers which primarily or solely affected women, and authorized increased appropriations. * 1998: Establishes the

Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine The Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine (OCCAM) is an office of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis. OCCAM was founded in 1998 and is responsible for NCI's research agenda in ...

to study pseudoscientific

alternative medicine Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alt ...

treatments for cancer * 2009: The

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

provided in additional funding for the NIH; the NCI received from that amount. * 2016: The

21st Century Cures Act The 21st Century Cures Act is a United States law enacted by the 114th United States Congress in December 2016 and then signed into law on December 13, 2016. It authorized $6.3 billion in funding, mostly for the National Institutes of Health. The ...

increased funding for biomedical research. The "Cancer Moonshot" program promised additional support for cancer research. *On October 17, 2017,

Norman Sharpless Norman Edward "Ned" Sharpless (born September 20, 1966) is the previous Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Before that, Sharpless was Professor of Medicine and Genetics Chair, Director of University of North Carolina UNC Lineberger ...

was sworn in as the 15th director of the National Cancer Institute. In April 2019, Sharpless left NCI to serve as the acting

Commissioner of Food and Drugs The United States Commissioner of Food and Drugs is the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The commissioner is appointed by the president of the United States an ...

. He returned to the institute in November 2019 as director.

Anti-cancer drug investigations

Organization

The NCI is divided into several divisions and centers.

Intramural

* Center for Cancer Research :: The CCR includes approximately 250 internal NCI research groups in Frederick and Bethesda. * Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics :: DCEG is made up of eight branches within the Trans-divisional Research Program.

Extramural

* Division of Cancer Biology :: DCB oversees approximately 2000 grants per year in the areas of cancer cell biology; cancer immunology, hematology, and etiology; DNA and chromosome aberrations; structural biology and molecular applications; tumor biology and microenvironment; and tumor metastasis. "Special Research Programs" falling under the aegis of the DCB include: Physical Sciences-Oncology Network, Cancer Systems Biology Consortium, Oncology Models Forum, Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network, New Approaches to Synthetic Lethality for Mutant KRAS-Dependent Cancers, Molecular and Cellular Characterization of Screen-Detected Lesions, Fusion Oncoproteins in Childhood Cancers, and Cancer Tissue Engineering Collaborative. * Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences * Division of Cancer Prevention * Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis :: DCTD supports eight research programs: The Biometric Research Program, The Cancer Diagnosis Program, The Cancer Imaging Program, The Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, The Developmental Therapeutics Program, The Radiation Research Program, The Translational Research Program, and The

. * Division of Extramural Activities :: DEA processes and supports the thousands of grant applications NCI receives each year and compiles reports on the progress of research funded by the NCI's programs.

Office of the director

* Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology * Center for Cancer Genomics :: CCG was created in 2011 and is responsible for management of

The Cancer Genome Atlas ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

and cancer genomics initiatives. * Center for Cancer Training * Center for Global Health * Center for Strategic Scientific Initiatives :: In the 1990s, the Unconventional Innovation Program was created to integrate interdisciplinary technology research with biological applications. It was reorganized in 2004 as the CSSI. * Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities * Center for Research Strategy * Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials * Technology Transfer Center

Programs

NCI-designated Cancer Centers

The

s are one of the primary arms in the NCI's mission in supporting cancer research. There are currently 71 so-designated centers; 12 clinical cancer centers, 52 comprehensive cancer centers, and 7 basic laboratory cancer centers. NCI supports these centers with grant funding in the form of P30 Cancer Center Support Grants to support shared research resources and interdisciplinary programs. Additionally, faculty at the cancer centers receive approximately 75% of the grant funding awarded by the NCI to individual investigators. The NCI cancer centers program was introduced in 1971 with 15 participating institutions.

National Clinical Trials Network

The National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN) was formed in 2014, from the Cooperative Group program to modernize the existing system to support

precision medicine Precision, precise or precisely may refer to: Science, and technology, and mathematics Mathematics and computing (general) * Accuracy and precision, measurement deviation from true value and its scatter * Significant figures, the number of digit ...

clinical trials. With precision medicine, many patients must be screened to determine eligibility for treatments in development. Lead Academic Participating Sites (LAPS) were chosen at 30 academic institutions for their ability to conduct clinical trials and screen a large number of participants and awarded grants to support the infrastructure and administration required for clinical trials. Most LAPS grant recipients are also NCI-designated cancer centers. NCTN also stores surgical tissue from patients in a nationwide network of tissue banks at various universities.

Developmental Therapeutics Program

The NCI Development Therapeutics Program (DTP) provides services and resources to the academic and private-sector research communities worldwide to facilitate the discovery and development of new cancer therapeutic agents. Under the label "Discovery & Development Services" several services are offered, among them the NCI-60 human cancer cell line screen and the Molecular Target Program. In the Molecular Target Program thousands of molecular targets have been measured in the NCI panel of 60 human tumor cell lines. Measurements include protein levels, RNA measurements, mutation status and enzyme activity levels.

NCI-60 Human Tumor Cell Lines Screen

The evolution of strategies at the NCI illustrates the changes in screening that have resulted from advances in cancer biology. The Developmental Therapeutics Program (DTP) operates a tiered anti-cancer compound screening program with the goal of identifying novel chemical leads and biological mechanisms. The DTP screen is a three phase screen which includes: an initial screen which first involves a single dose

cytotoxicity Cytotoxicity is the quality of being toxic to cells. Examples of toxic agents are an immune cell or some types of venom, e.g. from the puff adder (''Bitis arietans'') or brown recluse spider (''Loxosceles reclusa''). Cell physiology Treating cells ...

screen with the 60 cell line assay. Those passing certain thresholds are subjected to a 5 dose screen of the same 60 cell-line panel to determine a more detailed picture of the biological activity. A second phase screen establishes the maximum tolerable dosage and involves

in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, and ...

examination of

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

regression using the hollow fiber assay. The third phase of the study is the human tumor

xenograft Xenotransplantation (''xenos-'' from the Greek meaning "foreign" or strange), or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another. Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenograft ...

evaluation. Active compounds are selected for testing based on several criteria: disease type specificity in the

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...

assay, unique structure, potency, and demonstration of a unique pattern of cellular cytotoxicity or cytostasis, indicating a unique mechanism of action or

intracellular This glossary of biology terms is a list of definitions of fundamental terms and concepts used in biology, the study of life and of living organisms. It is intended as introductory material for novices; for more specific and technical definitions ...

target. A high correlation of cytotoxicity with compounds of known biological mechanism is often predictive of the drugs mechanism of action and thus a tool to aid in the drug development and testing. It also tells if there is any unique response of the drug which is not similar to any of the standard prototype compounds in the NCI database.

Leadership

Notable NCI faculty

* Amy Berrington de González, senior investigator and radiation epidemiology branch chief. *

Kathryn Zoon Kathryn C. Zoon is a U.S.-based immunologist, elected to the U.S. Institute of Medicine in 2002 for her research on human interferons. She is the former scientific director of the Division of Intramural Research at the National Institute of Al ...

, Principal Deputy Director, 2002 to 2004. * Michael B. Sporn was the Chief of the Laboratory of Chemoprevention, 1978 to 1995. *

Tom Misteli Tom Misteli, Ph.D. is a Swiss-born (Solothurn) cell biologist and pioneer in the field of genome cell biology. Tom Misteli is best known for his work on elucidation of how genomes function in living cells. While a post-doc at the Cold Spring Harbo ...

, NIH Distinguished Investigator and Director of the NCI Center for Cancer Research *

Susan Gottesman Susan Gottesman is a microbiologist at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health. Gottesman has been the editor of the ''Annual Review of Microbiology'' since 2008. She is a pioneer in the area of ...

* Sankar Adhya *

Ira Pastan Ira Pastan (born in Winthrop, Massachusetts June 1, 1931) is an American scientist at the National Cancer Institute. He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Associa ...

Elaine Jaffe Elaine Sarkin Jaffe (born in August 1943) is a senior National Cancer Institute (NCI) investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) most well known for her contribution to hematopathology. She completed her medical education at Cornell ...

* Michael Gottesman *

Robert C. Gallo Robert Charles Gallo (; born March 23, 1937) is an American biomedical researcher. He is best known for his role in establishing the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the infectious agent responsible for acquired immune deficiency syndrome ( ...

Michael Potter Michael Potter (born 24 September 1963) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the interim head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League, and a former professional rugby league football ...

* Sandra Wolin * Charles J. Sherr *

Louis M. Staudt Louis Michael Staudt is a scientist at the National Cancer Institute, where he is co-chief of the Lymphoid Malignancies Branch and the director of the Center for Cancer Genomics. Early life and education Staudt was born in 1955 in Michigan. Stau ...

Gordon Zubrod Charles Gordon Zubrod (January 22, 1914 – January 19, 1999) was an American oncologist who played a prominent role in the introduction of chemotherapy for cancer. He was one of the recipients of the 1972 Albert Lasker Awards in recognition of ...

Steven Rosenberg Steven A. Rosenberg (born 2 August 1940) is an American cancer researcher and surgeon, chief of Surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and a Professor of Surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences an ...

* Alfred Singer, Chief of the Experimental Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute * Xiaohong Rose Yang, senior investigator. * Douglas R. Lowy, Chief, Laboratory of Cellular Oncology; NCI Principal Deputy Director, initial development, characterization, and clinical testing of the preventive virus-like particle-based HPV vaccines.

Notable people

* Susan Shurin, senior adviser

Notes and references

General references

National Cancer Institute
Retrieved 11 June 2010.
"NCI MISSION STATEMENT"
National Cancer Institute. Retrieved 18 August 2004.

National Cancer Institute. Retrieved 18 August 2004.

External links

*
NCI
account on

USAspending.gov ttp://www.usaspending.gov USASpending.govis a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Act's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a site that would do essentially eve ...

NCI Dictionaries
NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms (utilizing non-technical language) • NCI Dictionary of Genetics Terms (for healthcare professionals) • NCI Drug Dictionary (includes links for potential

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

s)
NCI
in ''A Short History of the National Institutes of Health'', an online exhibit by the Office of NIH History
Important Events in NCI History
from the ''NIH Almanac''
Major NCI Milestones

infographic Infographics (a clipped compound of "information" and " graphics") are graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly.Doug Newsom and Jim Haynes (2004). ''Public Relations Wr ...

{{Authority control 1937 establishments in the United States 75th United States Congress Cancer organizations based in the United States Medical research institutes in Maryland National Cancer Centers Cancer Institute Organizations established in 1937