Science Friday How A Fringe Idea Led To Lifesaving Cancer Treatments
Dec 10, 2025
Dr. Rakesh K. Jain, a renowned professor of radiation oncology at Harvard, shares how his groundbreaking focus on the tumor microenvironment transformed cancer treatment. He explains the historical neglect of 'soil' in favor of 'seed,' which led to misjudgments in tumor therapies. Jain discusses his engineering background that shaped his research on drug delivery and blood flow in tumors. He challenges traditional methods and reveals how his innovative approaches paved the way for seven FDA-approved treatments, including the use of losartan to improve outcomes in glioblastoma.
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Tumors As Complex Organs
- Tumors act like organs with their own rules, not just bags of cancer cells.
- The surrounding 'soil'—vessels, matrix, immune and neuronal cells, and microbiome—shapes therapy outcomes.
Delivery And Microenvironment Limit Drugs
- Drug delivery into tumors is highly heterogeneous; much of injected drug bypasses tumor tissue.
- Poor blood supply creates hypoxia and acidity that reduce many therapies' effectiveness.
Windows Into Tumors
- Jain built glass window preparations to watch tumors in animals and visualize blood flow and drug movement.
- He observed regions with brisk flow next to areas with no flow, revealing the heterogeneity directly.