The 15th European Immunology Meeting EFIS 2003, organised by Hellenic Immunological Society under the auspices of European Federation of Immunological Societies, was attended by > 1000 immunologists from across the globe. The congress was located on the beautiful, historic island of Rhodes, Greece. The scientific programme included 8 plenary sessions, 20 symposia, 38 workshops, 4 state-of-the-art lectures and 6 'Meet an expert' sessions. Unlike the previous EFIS 2000 meting, which was held 3 years ago in Poznan, Poland, the majority of sessions were devoted to basic immunology. However, there were several interesting lectures related to the field of immuno-based biological therapies that may be of interest for readers of the journal. Since authors of the highlight have primarily been involved in the area of antitumour biotherapies, the article will mainly focus on selected tumour immunology/immunotherapy-related presentations. However, some important lectures dealing with other aspects of immuno-based therapies will also be discussed.