The quest for telomerase as an antigen for cancer began with a few basic questions in mind: "Are there peptides from the consensus sequence of human TRT that bind with sufficient avidity MHC molecules and is there a residual CD8 T cell repertoire against hTRT in humans?" "Can telomerase peptides generate CTL responses that kill across tumor types?" and "Is there a residual repertoire in cancer patients?" Studies were performed using as a main approach the in vitro generation of specific CTL starting from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). The gene discussed is TERT; the disease is cancer.