Recent data have renewed enthusiasm to the tumor immunotherapy field. Indeed, several pre-clinical and clinical studies of active and adoptive immunotherapy, have recently demonstrated that the immune system plays a crucial role in controlling tumor growth. In this context, the research of our laboratory is focused on the investigation of the cellular mechanisms underlying immune response to solid tumors and on the improvement of this response by the development of new vaccines (e.g. genetically modified T cells as vehicle for tumor-antigen delivery), and the ex vivo study of antigen presenting cells (APCs) and T cell effectors of patients undergoing active vaccination treatments.