Cancer Research Portfolio

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) works to advance fundamental knowledge about cancer across a seamless and dynamic continuum of discovery, development, and delivery. Building on past discoveries and technological advances, NCI plans, conducts, and coordinates cutting-edge research and its application. The Institute supports the development of new technologies, encouraging creativity and innovation in all of our endeavors. The Institute provides research training and career development opportunities and maintains collaborative environments to link scientists with their colleagues and with critical technological and information resources.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. Many viruses have a role in the etiology of cancers, including retroviruses, hepatitis B and C viruses, Kaposi's Sarcoma herpesvirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and papovaviruses such as papillomaviruses and SV40. NIAID supports research on these viruses that includes basic studies on aspects of their biology not directly related to cancer, and clinical investigations for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of their non-cancerous infections. NIAID supports studies of abnormal proliferation of immune cells, and of agents such as interferon and chemotherapeutics that enhance the immune response or have anti-tumor activities.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

The mission of the NICHD is to ensure that every person is born healthy and wanted, that women suffer no harmful effects from reproductive processes, and that all children have the chance to achieve their full potential for healthy and productive lives, free from disease or disability, and to ensure the health, productivity, independence, and well-being of all people through optimal rehabilitation. To reach this goal, the NICHD funds projects associated with different types of cancers as they relate to the pediatric population, to the reproductive process, to human development and rehabilitation. NICHD funds grants which correlate cancers of the endometrium, ovary, uterus, cervix and testis to reproductive complications. NICHD also funds grants in cancer research that effect the pediatric population, and that study the association of at-risk behaviors to certain cancers.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) provides leadership in the national effort to reduce alcohol-related problems by conducting and supporting research in a wide range of scientific areas including genetics, neuroscience, epidemiology, health risks and benefits of alcohol consumption, prevention, and treatment. Chronic alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk for cancers of various organs such as oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, large intestine, liver, and breast. NIAAA encourages research that investigates the underlying molecular mechanisms whereby chronic alcohol ingestion promotes the development of cancer. Understanding the mechanisms may help to develop strategies for the prevention and treatment of alcohol-associated cancers.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

The mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse is to bring the power of science to bear on drug abuse and addiction. The use of tobacco products may be the Nation's most critical public health problem. It is, in fact, addiction to nicotine that is at the root of this enormous health, social, and financial burden. The identification of nicotine as an addictive drug has been instrumental in the development of medications and behavioral treatments for nicotine addiction. Other addictive drugs have also been associated with the development of different types of cancer. An improved overall understanding of addiction, identifying the role certain drugs of abuse may play in the development of cancer, and the development of treatments for drug addiction can serve as powerful tools in cancer prevention.