cells do not express telomerase. The catalytic subunit of telomerase called human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), represents a potential universal target for cancer immunotherapy. Gaudernack was the first to develop therapeutic cancer vaccines based on immunogenic peptides derived from hTERT. In 2000, Gaudernack initiated a phase I/II clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients using an hTERT derived peptide (GV1001). The study showed that the vaccine was well tolerated and significantly induced immune responses. This was a first in man telomerase vaccine and these data formed the basis for an ongoing phase III trial (Telovax) sponsored by Cancer UK. In 2006, Gaudernack and colleagues published results from a phase I/II clinical trial in patients with non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC). Similarly to the pancreatic cancer trial, the hTERT peptide vaccine showed to be well tolerated and safe. This study demonstrated that NSCLC patients that responded to the vaccine (54% of evaluable patients) had significantly improved survival compared to non-responding patients. Two of the responding patients had complete remission of the disease and are still alive today (in 2006?). Together with colleagues and industrial partners, Gaudernack is currently running several other clinical trials with hTERT peptides as therapeutic cancer vaccines. Cellular and Immuno-gene therapy of cancer Gaudernack and colleagues became interested in the immunotherapeutic potential of dendritic cells (DCs) and in 2005, Gaudernack's group published results from a phase I/II clinical trial in prostate cancer patients using autologous DCs loaded with tumor mRNA as a vaccine. This study demonstrated that vaccination with autologous DCs transfected with mRNA derived from three prostate cancer cell lines was safe and an improved clinical outcome was significantly related to immune responses against the vaccine. Furthermore, Gaudernack and colleagues initiated a phase I/II clinical trial for treatment of malignant melanoma with autologous tumor-mRNA transfected DC vaccines. These data clearly demonstrated vaccine-specific immune responses with a broad specter of T cell response against antigens encoded by the tumor-mRNA antigens utilized for transfection. Gaudernack is strongly involved in several ongoing cellular and immuno-gene therapeutic clinical trials. In addition, Gaudernack's group has put major effort into development of various T cell-based immunotherapeutic strategies which will enter clinical trials during 2011-2012. Cancer stem cells Gaudernack is member of the Cancer Stem Cell Innovation Center (CAST) and part of his group has in the recent years focused on cancer stem cell research. The major goal for these projects is the development of