The use of whole tumour cell preparations in cancer immunotherapy, to simultaneously target multiple tumour antigens to activate the immune response, is a promising therapeutic approach. Ye et al. have developed a transdermal microneedle vaccine patch that directly targets antigen-presenting cells via delivery of B16F10 melanoma whole tumour lysates combined with melanin. Application of the patch in conjunction with near-infrared irradiation — which melanin transforms to heat, which boosts the immune response — prevented tumour engraftment in prophylactic mouse melanoma models and caused sustained tumour regression in mice with established tumours.