The Coordinated Cancer Initiatives bring together experts from various yet complementary backgrounds who cooperatively design a “master plan” of coordinated research tasks. The Institute then awards short-term funding to individual researchers charged with specific tasks to be accomplished within a specified timeframe. The participating scientists collaborate and communicate; share reagents, data, and ideas; and meet on a regular basis to present their findings and chart the course for the next six to twelve months.

This program evolved from the Cancer Antigen Discovery Collaborative (CADC), established in 2000, which was an effort dedicated to the identification and characterization of the markers on cancer cells recognized by the immune system. These so-called cancer antigens can serve as the basis for cancer vaccines and antibody-based therapies. The CADC identified and validated a number of cancer antigens, including NY-BR-1, NY-CO-68, SSX, SCPI, XAGE, and HERV. One of these antigens, NY-BR-1, has been selected for testing as a therapeutic vaccine in breast cancer patients under the auspices of the Institute’s Cancer Vaccine Collaborative. 

The success of the CADC prompted the Institute to apply the collaborative model to additional areas of clinically relevant research and to rename the program the Coordinated Cancer Initiatives (CCI). This strategic funding program provides a proactive and flexible way for CRI to focus on areas of particular interest or those areas that are deemed able to provide clinically relevant insights and discoveries that could potentially accelerate the development of effective cancer immunotherapies. Efforts within the CCI are currently focusing on ovarian, pediatric, and colon cancers, on tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, and adoptive T cells, among others. In fiscal year 2009, CRI awarded 8 CCI grants totaling $340,000.          

Click here for a list of CRI-supported scientists who are working together within the Coordinated Cancer Initiatives.