Laszlo Radvanyi
PhD
Senior Scientist, Cancer Research
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Professor, Tier I Canada Research Chair in Translational Biotherapeutics, Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
University of Ottawa
Contact
Room C3120 Ottawa Hospital Research Institute - Cancer Centre 501 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1H 8L6
Valerie Smaglinskie E-mail: vsmaglinskie@toh.ca
Bio
Dr. Radvanyi is a full professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Ottawa, and is a Senior Scientist in the Cancer Research Program at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. He also a Professor (status-only) in the Department of Immunology at the University of Toronto. Previous to this (2018-2025), he was President & Scientific Director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) overseeing all research operations and scientific strategy. Dr. Radvanyi did his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Toronto, where he also completed his Ph.D. in Clinical Biochemistry.
Dr. Radvanyi also held several positions in the United States prior to coming back to Canada in 2018 to join OICR. He was Senior Vice President, Global Head of the Immuno-Oncology (IO) at EMD Serono (Merck KGaA) from 2015-2018 where he rebuilt and re-organized its IO research platform. Prior to this, he was a Professor in the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX) from 2005 to 2015, where he performed basic and translational research in cell therapy of cancer and was founding CSO of the first biotech company (Iovance Biotherapeutics) to commercialize tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy for cancer.
PubMed Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Radvanyi+L+OR+Radvany+L&sort=date
Research Goals and Interests
Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi’s current research program aims to uncover the hidden role of the “dark genome”—the 50-70% of genomic human DNA previously considered non-functional—in cancer development and treatment. Specifically, it focuses on expressed human retro-transposable elements (EREs), a class of repetitive non-coding DNA sequences such as LINE-1 (L1), Alu/SINE, and human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), which are typically silenced in healthy tissues but become abnormally activated in many cancers and age-related diseases.
The objectives of the lab’s research program are to:
Determine whether EREs are over-expressed in precancerous tissues and contribute to cancer initiation.
Investigate whether inhibiting ERE-encoded reverse transcriptase (RT) can prevent tumor formation.
Explore the potential of ERE-derived proteins and expressed open-reading frames as novel targets for cancer immunotherapy.
Assess whether ERE nucleic acids and peptides in extracellular vesicles (EVs) in blood plasma can serve as biomarkers for early cancer detection and treatment monitoring and develop high-throughput lab-on-a-chip detection methods for EREs as new cancer diagnostics.
The research approach integrates molecular biology, genomics, immunology, and translational biotherapeutics. The lab analyzes ERE expression patterns in various cancer types, study their impact on DNA damage and inflammation, and evaluates their immunogenic potential. The program also aims to develop innovative diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies targeting EREs, particularly for hard-to-treat cancers such as pancreatic cancer, bile duct cancers, and brain cancer. A key approach used in the lab is the study of EVs that serve as local and long-distance “molecular messengers” in the body. These EVs are released from the cells in our body and circulate in our blood. Tumour cells especially release copious amounts of EVs that contain nucleic acid signatures and proteins from EREs and other genomic elements that serve as “fingerprints” of what are expressed in tumours. As such, EVs can serve as powerful biomarkers in blood that can be readily isolated for screening novel ERE antigens for immunotherapy (cancer vaccine development) and biomarkers for early cancer detection and monitoring disease recurrence, both key aims of the research program. For this aspect, the lab is also collaborating with bioengineers and physicists to develop novel ERE detection methods in EVs such as a new nanomolar-sensitive microfluidics-based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) approach.
This work in the lab on EREs is highly significant because it helps shifts the paradigm of cancer research beyond traditional protein-coding genes to explore the vast, uncharted territory of the non-coding genome previously ignored for decades. By investigating how EREs contribute to tumor development and immune activation or immune dysfunction in cancer, the program could lead to groundbreaking therapies and early detection methods for cancers that currently lack effective treatments. Ultimately, this research has the potential to transform our understanding of cancer biology and open new avenues for precision medicine.
News
Publications
Evdokimova V, Ruzanov P, Gassmann H, Hung M, Zhang Z, Senff-Ribeiro A, Khoshgoo N, Zheng S, Pachva MC, Ringwalt EM, Cripe TP, Roberts RD, Sorensen PH, Burdach SEG, Stein LD, Radvanyi L. Proinflammatory signaling in Ewing sarcoma is driven by retroelement activity and counteracted by reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Cell Rep. 2026 Jul 21;45(7):117708
Go to publicationEvdokimova V, Zhang Z, Ruzanov P, Hung M, Khoshgoo N, Zheng S, Quintayo MA, Stein LD, Bayani J, Radvanyi L. Estrogen-Driven Breast Carcinogenesis in a Rat Model is Linked to Retroelement Activation and Inflammation and is Susceptible to Lamivudine Treatment. Evdokimova V, Zhang Z, Ruzanov P, Hung M, Khoshgoo N, Zheng S, Quintayo MA, Stein LD, Bayani J, Radvanyi L. Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press). 2026 Jul 23;18:608709.
Go to publicationRuzanov P, Evdokimova V, Pachva MC, Minkovich A, Zhang Z, Langman S, Gassmann H, Thiel U, Orlic-Milacic M, Zaidi SH, Peltekova V, Heisler LE, Sharma M, Cox ME, McKee TD, Zaidi M, Lapouble E, McPherson JD, Delattre O, Burdach SE, Stein LD, Sorensen PH, and Radvanyi L. Oncogenic ETS fusions promote DNA damage and proinflammatory responses via pericentromeric RNAs in extracellular vesicles. J Clin Invest. 2024 Mar 26;134(9):e169470
Go to publicationStrum S, Evdokimova V, Radvanyi L, Spreafico A. Extracellular Vesicles and Their Applications in Tumor Diagnostics and Immunotherapy. Cells. 2024 Dec 9;13(23):2031
Go to publicationEvdokimova V, Gassmann H, Radvanyi L, Burdach SEG. Current State of Immunotherapy and Mechanisms of Immune Evasion in Ewing Sarcoma and Osteosarcoma. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Dec 30;15(1):272
Go to publicationStanton SE, Anderson KG, Bruno TC, Capitini CM, Disis ML, McQuade J, Radvanyi L, Vanpouille-Box C, Wargo J, Baines KJ, Hong MMY, Rajeh A, Kim RH, Awadalla P, Hughes LK, Maleki Vareki S. SITC strategic vision: prevention, premalignant immunity, host and environmental factors. J Immunother Cancer. 2025 Mar 28;13(3):e010419
Go to publicationRadvanyi L. Targeting the cancer mutanome of breast cancer. Nat Med. 2018 Jun;24(6):703-704
Go to publicationSayaman RW, Saad M, Thorsson V, Hu D, Hendrickx W, Roelands J, Porta-Pardo E, Mokrab Y, Farshidfar F, Kirchhoff T, Sweis RF, Bathe OF, Heimann C, Campbell MJ, Stretch C, Huntsman S, Graff RE, Syed N, Radvanyi L, Shelley S, Wolf D, Marincola FM, Ceccarelli M, Galon J, Ziv E, Bedognetti D. Germline genetic contribution to the immune landscape of cancer. Immunity. 2021 Feb 9;54(2):367-386.e8
Go to publicationLan Y, Zhang D, Xu C, Hance KW, Marelli B, Qi J, Yu H, Qin G, Sircar A, Hernández VM, Jenkins MH, Fontana RE, Deshpande A, Locke G, Sabzevari H, Radvanyi L, Lo KM. Enhanced preclinical antitumor activity of M7824, a bifunctional fusion protein simultaneously targeting PD-L1 and TGF-β. Sci Transl Med. 2018 Jan 17;10(424):eaan5488
Go to publicationLi M, Radvanyi L, Yin B, Rycaj K, Li J, Chivukula R, Lin K, Lu Y, Shen J, Chang DZ, Li D, Johanning GL, Wang-Johanning F. Downregulation of Human Endogenous Retrovirus Type K (HERV-K) Viral env RNA in Pancreatic Cancer Cells Decreases Cell Proliferation and Tumor Growth. Clin Cancer Res. 2017 Oct 1;23(19):5892-5911
Go to publicationWang-Johanning F, Radvanyi L, Rycaj K, Plummer JB, Yan P, Sastry KJ, Piyathilake CJ, Hunt KK, Johanning GL. Human endogenous retrovirus K triggers an antigen-specific immune response in breast cancer patients. Cancer Res. 2008 Jul 15;68(14):5869-77
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