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This article may have missed a “magic bullet” that would be effective against many forms of cancer. The researchers concentrate on a drug that blocks a mutated form of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, which may benefit 5 percent of lung cancer patients. Yet the article states that “if normal cell growth runs amok, the [normal] EGF receptor follows its cell-division signals with a self-destruct message.” Why not in effect implant normal EGF receptors onto the surface of tumor cells?

Stephen Munson
El Segundo, Calif.