Borderline Disease

Hodgkin's disease, an agonizing and hopeless sickness, kills more than 3,000 people a year in the U.S. Doctors know very little about it except that it is 100% fatal. In Manhattan last week, Dr. Antonio Rottino, chief pathologist at St. Vincent's Hospital, announced the formation of a research foundation that will study Hodgkin's disease and try to track down its cause & cure.

Hodgkin's disease is a cancerlike swelling of the lymph nodes and lymphoid tissue, which exists throughout the body. The victims--often young people--live, on an average, for about 30 months after the disease takes hold. The accepted treatment at present is X rays or nitrogen mustard (TIME, Oct. 21). Both are palliatives, offer no hope of cure.

What causes Hodgkin's disease and how is it carried? One school considers it a form of cancer, with the body's own cells getting out of control. In 1944, investigators found "inclusion bodies" (possibly indicating virus infection) in affected tissues. The discovery was important: if the disease is really caused by a virus, a vaccine may eventually be developed.

The Hodgkin's Disease Research Foundation will set up clinics throughout the U.S. where patients can be cared for and studied. Its laboratories, while concentrating on Hodgkin's disease, will be double-spurred by the hope of finding some clues to a cure for the big enemy--cancer.

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