Among the different adjuvants, Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are often used in cancer immunotherapy.11–13 Thus, polyinosinic–polycytidylic acid (PIC), a TLR-3 agonist, is able to induce proinflammatory immune signalling that leads to tumour regression.12–15 Recently, the intratumoural (i.t.)injection of cancer vaccines has been proposed as an alternative therapeutic strategy able to induce a potent anti-tumour effect.16–18 However, clinical results have shown that therapeutic cancer vaccines are unable to attain significant effects on overall survival. The gene discussed is TLR3; the disease is neoplasm.