Fall 2025 Grantee Highlight:
Zuzana Tothova

Zuzana Tothova, MD, PhD

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Zuzana Tothova and her team are exploring the therapeutic potential of remnants of ancient viral elements, known as endogenous retroviruses (ERVs), in hard‑to‑treat blood cancers. ERVs are fragments of viral DNA that integrated into the human genome millions of years ago. Although usually silenced, they can become reactivated in cancer cells and generate neoantigens, new protein markers that can be detected by the immune system.

The Tothova Lab is using advanced multi‑omic technologies to systematically profile samples from patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that carry specific mutations in chromatin regulators. By mapping when and how ERVs become induced, the team aims to identify ERV‑derived neoantigens that could serve as precise therapeutic targets.

Their long‑term goal is to open new avenues for targeted treatments in blood cancer subtypes that currently lack effective options. More broadly, their work seeks to translate ERV‑based discoveries into biomarker‑driven interventional strategies for cancers characterized by ERV reactivation.