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Research on Rare Cancers Across the Cancer Control Continuum
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Topic Description
Post Date: February 20, 2026
Expiration Date: February 20, 2027
Purpose
This topic encourages applications to accelerate research on rare cancers across the cancer control continuum. The cancer control continuum encompasses etiology, prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, symptom management, survivorship, and end of life. Cancer prevention and control science is the conduct of basic and applied research in the behavioral, social, clinical, and population sciences to inform prevention and intervention strategies. These strategies, whether implemented alone or in combination with biomedical approaches, reduce cancer risk, incidence, morbidity, symptom burden, and mortality, and improve quality of life.
Background
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) defines a rare cancer as one having an age-adjusted incidence of fewer than 15 cases per 100,000 per year. Despite their rarity, these cancers collectively account for approximately 25% of all new cases of adult cancers each year and all pediatric cancers in the United States.
In general, rare cancers are understudied, especially outside of clinical treatment trials. The lack of research focused on rare cancers has impeded scientific progress and hinders informed decision-making for patients and physicians. For many rare cancers, research to identify causes or develop strategies for prevention and early detection is extremely difficult. There are often delays in diagnosis for patients with rare cancers due to the rarity of the disease and a lack of standard of care treatment options that can impact optimal care delivery and outcomes. Conversely, for some rare cancers, the development of more effective therapies or early detection strategies has led to an increase in the number of short- and longer-term survivors; however, little is known about the survivorship needs including management of treatment-related and disease-related symptoms, and ways to address these needs for these individuals. Thus, there are numerous gaps in knowledge. These gaps have led to disparities in outcomes for individuals at risk or diagnosed with rare cancers compared with individuals at risk or diagnosed with more common cancers.
Participating ICOs
NCI encourages rare cancer-focused applications across the prevention and control continuum, including:
- Population-level studies on cancer determinants and outcomes
- Behavioral studies on psychological, social, and biobehavioral targets from prevention to end-of-life care
- Healthcare delivery studies on cancer care, influencing factors, and survivor outcomes
- Survivorship research to enhance quality and/or length of survival
- Surveillance research developing tools for collecting, interpreting, and disseminating cancer statistics
- Implementation science on adopting, sustaining, and scaling evidence-based interventions
- Translational and clinical prevention research on risk reduction, early detection, and precision prevention
- Symptom management research on interventions to alleviate treatment- and cancer-related symptoms to improve patient comfort, function, and quality of life
Lisa Gallicchio, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Zhong Chen, MD, PhD
[email protected]
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