To understand how cancer develops and spreads, and to develop better therapies, it’s critical to understand the tumor microenvironment, the immediate area around a tumor that “helps generate a supportive niche for it to develop and grow.”

Johanna Joyce, PhD, joined the podcast to explain that the diverse normal cells around a tumor are enmeshed with cancer cells. They’re integrated. They communicate and influence each other’s functions.

Her lab’s goal is “to try and either block this cellular conversation or redirect it towards a more constructive dialogue that helps fight the tumor and not support it.”

Johanna Joyce, PhD, is Professor at the University of Lausanne and Full Member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

4:32 – What is the tumor microenvironment?

6:00 – Why it’s similar to the immense complexity of a forest’s ecosystem

8:19 – Do tumors somehow create or remodel their microenvironments?

12:42 – “The tumor microenvironment can have a major impact on how a given cancer responds to therapy in a number of different ways…”

18:23 – On the unique aspects of the tumor microenvironment in the brain

22:02 – On her fantastic new study showing that different brain cancers have different microenvironments based on whether the tumors started in the brain or spread to the brain

28:15 – Surprising findings from that study – the immense complexity and diversity of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment

32:12 – How can we translate these findings to the clinic?

36:22 – Why it’s so important to understand how different lifestyles, diets, levels of activity, and environmental exposures impact patients’ tumor microenvironments

38:20 – The impact that American Cancer Society funding had on her career

40:41 – Her message for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers