A synthetic peptide vaccine containing a 16-amino-acid human telomerase reverse transcriptase peptide(hTERT: 611-626) with potential antineoplastic activity. Vaccination with telomerase peptide vaccine GV1001, which binds multiple HLA class II molecules and harbors putative HLA class I epitopes, may activate the immune system to mount a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response against telomerase-expressing tumor cells. Telomerase, a reverse transcriptase normally repressed in healthy cells, is overexpressed in most tumor cell types and plays a key role in cellular proliferation.