The first introductory lecture dealt with the fundamental milestones of the long lasting and successful research on viruses and cancer, such as the discovery of transforming non-filterable agents that cause cancer, the identification of the first human tumor virus (EBV), the discoveries of proto-oncogenes (SRC) and tumor suppressor genes (p53, Rb), and the first vaccination achievements (HBV, HPV) (Umberto Veronesi, Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan, Italy). This evidence concerns the gene TP53 and cancer.