Recent progress in deciphering the mechanisms underlying the concepts of tumor immunosurveillance and immunoevasion has opened new opportunities for the development of effective antitumor therapies. Transplant physicians and immunologists have much to learn from those direct clinical translations of basic science. The 2016 Beaune Seminar in Transplant research brought together researchers from both fields to explore and discuss significant advances in cancer biology, immunotherapies and their potential impacts for the management of cancer in transplant recipients.