The past decade has seen tremendous developments in novel cancer therapies, through targeting of tumor cell-intrinsic pathways whose activity is linked to genetic alterations, as well as the targeting of tumor cell-extrinsic factors such as growth factors. Furthermore, immunotherapies are entering the clinic at an unprecedented speed following the demonstration that T cells can efficiently reject tumors and that their anti-tumor activity can be enhanced with antibodies against immune regulatory molecules (checkpoints blockade). Current immunotherapy strategies include monoclonal antibodies against tumor cells or immune regulatory molecules, cell-based therapies such as adoptive transfer of ex vivo activated T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, and cancer vaccines. Herein, we discuss the immunological basis for therapeutic cancer vaccines and how the current understanding of dendritic cell (DC) and T cell biology might enable development of next-generation curative therapies for patients with cancer.