# PDX Trial Center for Breast Cancer Therapy

> **NIH NIH U54** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2022 · $520,759

## Abstract

Project Summary
The scientific premise of this Center is that breast cancer patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models
represent the diversity of human breast tumors, and can be feasibly utilized to test new drugs and drug
combinations to find therapeutic approaches that match with molecular features of various tumor types.
The goal of our PDX Development and Trials Center (PDTC) is to obtain preclinical data that will
facilitate prioritization of drugs to be tested in breast cancer clinical trials at the National Cancer Institute
(NCI). Toward this goal, our PDTC focuses on testing drugs that are already available through the NCI
as NCI-IND agents with the Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN). Scientifically,
this PDTC will focus on preclinical evaluation of approved and investigational drugs and drug
combinations in a large collection of breast PDX models representing primary and metastatic breast
cancer. One project will screen 35 NCI-IND drugs as single agents and in combination with standard-
of-care therapies, in >100 breast PDX models using a novel organoid system, and validate these
responses in PDX-bearing mice. Another project will test therapies that are predicted to target tumor-
initiating cell populations, with the goal of reducing chemotherapy resistance and recurrence – the major
cause of death from breast cancer. These two synergistic research projects will be supported several
key Cores: a PDX Core to propagate the PDX models and run the drug studies; a Biostatistics and
Bioinformatics Core to identify molecular features of tumors that do (or do not) respond to various
treatments; a Pilot Projects and Trans-network Activities Core to foster exploration of new ideas within
the PDTC and in collaboration with the PDXNetwork (PDXNet); and an Administrative Core to facilitate
effective communication within the PDTC and with the PDXNet. Taken together, these elements will
converge to reveal high-priority treatment strategies for future clinical trials in breast cancer patients.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10681672
- **Project number:** 3U54CA224076-04S3
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael T. Lewis
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $520,759
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-09-25 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10681672

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10681672, PDX Trial Center for Breast Cancer Therapy (3U54CA224076-04S3). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10681672. Licensed CC0.

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