Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program

The Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) is a comprehensive program to systematically evaluate new agents against childhood solid tumor and leukemia models. The PPTP is supported through an NCI research contract to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (SJCRH) with Dr. Peter Houghton as the Principal Investigator. Testing occurs both at SJCRH and also at subcontract sites that have expertise in specific childhood cancers.

The primary goal of the PPTP is to identify new agents that have the potential for significant activity when clinically evaluated against selected childhood cancers. The program is based on a substantial body of data showing that appropriate childhood cancer preclinical in vivo models can recapitulate the anti-tumor activity of known effective agents and can prospectively identify novel agents subsequently shown to have clinical activity against specific cancers of children and adolescents. By facilitating development of a more reliable pediatric new agent prioritization process, the PPTP will contribute to the goal of identifying more effective treatments for children with cancer.