The Cancer Target Discovery and Development (CTD²) Network of the NCI aims to relate the genetic features of cancers to acquired cancer dependencies and to identify small molecules that target the dependencies (superscript numbers refer to: ¹Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT; ²Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; ³Columbia University; ⁴Dana Farber Cancer Institute; ⁵University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas).

Conceptual image of a matrix of data relating cancer genotype, cancer phenotype and sensitivity to highly specific small-molecule modulators of cancer-relevant proteins. The CTD² Network is performing quantitative cellular measurements using small molecules (both with and without a knowledge or their targets) and genetically characterized cancer cell lines (copy number variation; mutational status; gene expression). Computational analyses are being performed that correlate the pattern of sensitivity with the genetic features of the cancer cell lines9–11. These analyses yield hypotheses for cancer genotype/drug efficacy relationships that can be tested in vitro and in vivo using systems developed within the Network.