An experimental Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) therapy kinder and gentler than standard chemotherapy is in the works at Dr. Robert Gallo's lab. When researchers injected hCG, an early-pregnancy hormone that is extracted from female urine, into cancerous tumors in 36 peolpe with KS, an as-yet-unidentified agent made the lesions shrink and scab over, indicating the KS cells had been killed.

Although the cosmetic benefits of hCG are evident, only further tests will show if the hormone is an effective treatment for internal lesions—or even a practical solutions to subcutaneous tumors.