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Nature 395, 13-15 (3 September 1998) | doi:10.1038/25595

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Cancer:  Has the smart bomb been defused?

Steven P. Linke1

A goal of cancer research is to develop therapies that can selectively kill tumour cells without adversely affecting normal cells — this is crucial for both the short-term comfort and long-term survival of patients. One such agent is a genetically engineered adenovirus from ONYX Pharmaceuticals, called ONYX-015, which is thought to selectively replicate in (and kill) tumour cells deficient for the p53 tumour-suppressor pathway, having little toxicity to normal cells1,2.

  1. Steven P. Linke is at the Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 9,000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4255, USA.
    e-mail: Email: slinke@helix.nih.gov