The June 7–10th Symposium on ‘Recent Advances in Cancer Research’, organized by Lorenzo Moretta in San Remo, Italy, on the occasion of Nobel's day, designated cancer genetics and tumor immunology as forefront areas in fundamental cancer research. While the central importance of oncogenes is obvious, this is less the case for the immunology of tumors, which has long been an area of descriptive phenomenology, wild speculation and unfulfilled expectation. The recent molecular identification of genes encoding a human melanoma antigen recognized by T cells, and of cytokines involved in the tumor-host interaction justifies renewed oncological interest in this area.