In physiological settings, the TGF-β-mediated immune suppression is crucial for the establishment of immune tolerance and prevention of chronic inflammation, e.g., in the gastrointestinal tract (4, 8, 9), but in malignant disease TGF-β promotes immune escape, tumor progression and metastasis (4, 10–13). The gene discussed is TGFB1; the disease is neoplasm.