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Clinical Immunobiology, Volume 1
CLINICAL
IMMUNOLOGY
AND
2, 300 (1974)
IMMUNOPATHOLOGY
Book Review Clinical
Immunobiology,
Volume
1, edited
by Fritz
H. Bach and Robert
A. Good
This volume is the first of a projected series of reviews which are directed to two groups of individuals. The first group consists of practicing physicians and students of medicine and biology who have not yet penetrated the immunologic jungle. The second group consists of “specialists in narrow fields of immunology, who are concerned with applications deriving from consideration of the broad discipline.” Addressing such a diverse audience is a formidable goal, but it is a goal which the book comes close to attaining. There is a fairly good uniformity of style for a multipleauthored work. The various chapters are quite readable, and provide a good balance between exposition of experimental data, and interpretation and speculation. The number of references has purposely been kept to a minimum, and in some cases an attempt has been made to restrict those references to review articles in the recent literature. The authors have done a good job in compressing large areas of immunology to fit very limited spaces, without loss of coherence. For example, only 38 pages are devoted to the complex field of transplantation immunology, but Starzl and Putnam have succeeded in conveying the basic notions relating to mechanisms of rejection, general features of the interactions between graft and host, and various aspects of immunosuppression. This section serves as a good introduction to more extensive discussions of immunogenetics and histocompatibility by Bach and Bach, and immunosuppression by Lance. Similarly, the chapter by Good, which deals with the lymphoid system as a two component system and discusses T and B cell interactions, provides a good background for the chapter by Rosen on the immunodeficiency diseases. Other fundamental areas of immunology which are covered include immunoglobulins, cellular immunity, tolerance, and inflammation. There is also an interesting chapter by Hunsicker et al. on humoral amplification systems in inflammation, which deals mainly with the complement and kinin systems, and which serves as a link between the chapter on inflammation and the one on allergy. A chapter dealing with the burgeoning field of tumor immunology rounds out the volume nicely. There are really only two criticisms one can raise about this book. The first is minor and relates to the impression that the sequence of chapters was determined randomly. The overall flow of information, especially to the uninitiated, would have been smoother if the sequence was 1,2,6,8,11,3,4,7,9,5,10,12, for example. The second criticism is that a volume such as this, like all others in immunology, is out-of-date the day it appears in print. It would be nice if future volumes were to include chapters on similar or identical topics, preferably by different authors, as well as new subjects not covered in the present book. This would serve an important up-dating function, as well as providing fresh, and different points of view. In summary, “Clinical Immunobiology” is a worthwhile contribution to the immunologic literature which can be recommended without hesitation to its stated audience. It does not serve as a replacement for such ongoing series as “Advances in Immunology” or “Progress in Allergy,” nor does it intend to do so. There is little in it that can be thought of as “required reading” for the already established immunologic investigator who keeps reasonably well informed about the field in general, but I suspect he will borrow it from his graduate student nonetheless.
Department
Copyright All rights
@ 1974 by Academic Press, Inc. of reproduction in any form reserved.
of Pathology State
300
STANLEYCOHEN and The Center for Immunology University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, New York 14214
IMMUNOLOGY
AND
2, 300 (1974)
IMMUNOPATHOLOGY
Book Review Clinical
Immunobiology,
Volume
1, edited
by Fritz
H. Bach and Robert
A. Good
This volume is the first of a projected series of reviews which are directed to two groups of individuals. The first group consists of practicing physicians and students of medicine and biology who have not yet penetrated the immunologic jungle. The second group consists of “specialists in narrow fields of immunology, who are concerned with applications deriving from consideration of the broad discipline.” Addressing such a diverse audience is a formidable goal, but it is a goal which the book comes close to attaining. There is a fairly good uniformity of style for a multipleauthored work. The various chapters are quite readable, and provide a good balance between exposition of experimental data, and interpretation and speculation. The number of references has purposely been kept to a minimum, and in some cases an attempt has been made to restrict those references to review articles in the recent literature. The authors have done a good job in compressing large areas of immunology to fit very limited spaces, without loss of coherence. For example, only 38 pages are devoted to the complex field of transplantation immunology, but Starzl and Putnam have succeeded in conveying the basic notions relating to mechanisms of rejection, general features of the interactions between graft and host, and various aspects of immunosuppression. This section serves as a good introduction to more extensive discussions of immunogenetics and histocompatibility by Bach and Bach, and immunosuppression by Lance. Similarly, the chapter by Good, which deals with the lymphoid system as a two component system and discusses T and B cell interactions, provides a good background for the chapter by Rosen on the immunodeficiency diseases. Other fundamental areas of immunology which are covered include immunoglobulins, cellular immunity, tolerance, and inflammation. There is also an interesting chapter by Hunsicker et al. on humoral amplification systems in inflammation, which deals mainly with the complement and kinin systems, and which serves as a link between the chapter on inflammation and the one on allergy. A chapter dealing with the burgeoning field of tumor immunology rounds out the volume nicely. There are really only two criticisms one can raise about this book. The first is minor and relates to the impression that the sequence of chapters was determined randomly. The overall flow of information, especially to the uninitiated, would have been smoother if the sequence was 1,2,6,8,11,3,4,7,9,5,10,12, for example. The second criticism is that a volume such as this, like all others in immunology, is out-of-date the day it appears in print. It would be nice if future volumes were to include chapters on similar or identical topics, preferably by different authors, as well as new subjects not covered in the present book. This would serve an important up-dating function, as well as providing fresh, and different points of view. In summary, “Clinical Immunobiology” is a worthwhile contribution to the immunologic literature which can be recommended without hesitation to its stated audience. It does not serve as a replacement for such ongoing series as “Advances in Immunology” or “Progress in Allergy,” nor does it intend to do so. There is little in it that can be thought of as “required reading” for the already established immunologic investigator who keeps reasonably well informed about the field in general, but I suspect he will borrow it from his graduate student nonetheless.
Department
Copyright All rights
@ 1974 by Academic Press, Inc. of reproduction in any form reserved.
of Pathology State
300
STANLEYCOHEN and The Center for Immunology University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, New York 14214