Recent advances in cancer immunotherapy with an emphasis on vaccines.

Recent Advances in Cancer Immunotherapy with an Emphasis on Vaccines was the first meeting organized by the European Society of Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy and Progress in Vaccine against Cancer, in collaboration with the Institute of Biological Research and Biotechnology of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, in a joint effort towards the setting up of a new generation of cancer vaccines. The main topics of the meeting included: the role of the tumor microenvironment in protecting the tumor from immune attack; differences in immunotherapy outcome in hematological malignancies versus solid tumors; rationale of multi-epitope vaccines; Treg cell elimination/inactivation, tumor stroma destruction, angiogenesis inhibition and the potentiality of 'preventive' vaccination in breast, colon, prostate and ovarian cancer in the early stages and during the 'wait-and-see' period. The ninth Progress in Vaccines against Cancer meeting will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, 8-10 October 2009, at the Hilton Hotel.