To determine whether cancer cells are capable of directly inducing FOXP3 expression in naïve T cells, we purified CD45RA+ CD4 T cells from human peripheral blood and stimulated them for 5 days with anti-CD3/28 antibody-coated beads, in the presence or absence of culture supernatants from five cancer cell lines representing tumours of the colon, lung, liver and brain. This evidence concerns the gene FOXP3 and cancer.