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Editor’s note: Mucin-1 (MUC1) is a membrane-bound mucin that is upregulated and aberrantly glycosylated in many types of adenocarcinoma but especially those of the breast and ovaries. In addition, because of the loss of polarity seen in cancer cells, the distribution of MUC1 changes from being confined to the luminal surface in normal epithelial cells to being found all over the cell surface in carcinoma cells. Moreover, there is some evidence that MUC1 can contribute to the phenotype of tumor cells. These characteristics make MUC1 an attractive immunotherapeutic target.