A synthetic, peptide cancer vaccine directed against the human telomerase reverse transcriptase catalytic subunit (hTERT) with potential immunomodulating activity. Vaccination with the UV1 telomerase peptide may stimulate cytotoxic T-cells to recognize and kill telomerase-expressing cells. Telomerase, a reverse transcriptase normally repressed in healthy cells, is overexpressed in most cancer cells and plays a key role in cellular proliferation.