Actually, activation or overexpression of EGFR has been associated with local recurrence and poor prognosis in patients (Nicholson et al, 2001; Gupta et al, 2002; Magné et al, 2002), as well as with resistance to drugs and radiation in murine carcinomas in vivo (Akimoto et al, 1999) and human tumour cells in vitro (Schmidt-Ullrich et al, 1997; Dent et al, 1999; Chen et al, 2000). The gene discussed is EGFR; the disease is carcinoma.