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The Herpesviruses Vols 3 and 4
Book Review The Herpesviruses Vols 3 and 4 Eds B. Roizman and C. Lopez Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York 1985 $55 As a graduate student my introduction to the fascinating world of herpesvirology came largely from the remarkable review of the subject written by Roizman in the Current Topics in Microbiology series. This review covered comprehensively the study of the whole herpesvirus group in 79 pages - a feat Roizman later repeated in the Comprehensive Virology series. Unfortunately, the field has now become so large and diverse that the writing of such reviews is beyond the working scientist and the current work is a multiauthor, multi-volume set of 850 pages. Vol. 3 is designed to set the stage at the clinical and biochemical level for the understanding of Vol. 4 on immunobiology and prophylaxis. There are nine contributions to Vol. 3. Whiteley opens the book with a lucid account of the epidemiology of the herpes simplex viruses; my only criticism is that it already requires updating particularly on the potential role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer. Wagner gives an account of the transcription studies (done largely in his laboratory) which have been so useful in gene assignment studies. BenPorat and Kaplan give a rather unique summary of thirty years research into the molecular biology of pseudorabies virus which will be helpful to workers on any of the ct-herpesviruses. Herpes simplex virus latency is given a refreshing review by T.J. Hill in chapter four although I would question citing the papers associating HSV with psychiatric disorders without giving the alternative point of view. It is intriguing that only HSV-I ICP4 has been implicated as an active virus protein in the latent neurone. In chapter five
W.E. Rawls gives his usual succinct statement on the state of our knowledge on HSV and cancer. I would have liked to see some connection between this and the following chapter on the transformation of cells by HSV and cytomegalovirus (CMV - M.J. Tevethia). The last three chapters concern glycoproteins of the herpesviruses and are written by P.G. Spear, G. Campadelli-Fiume and F. Serafini-Cessi, and L. Pereira. The last chapter could perhaps have done with some editorial blue pencil - after all, it is hardly necessary to start chapter nine of the book with ' H u m a n CMV belongs to the herpesvirus, a group of large DNA viruses'. Vol. 4 is much less of a whole than Vol. 3. It contains 19 chapters (most rather short) on the immunology of herpesvirus infections and on the protection of individuals from infection. Inevitably, with so many contributions there is some considerable overlap of subject matter and unevenness in both style and quality of the presentation. The book opens with a masterly chapter on the problem of genital herpes simplex virus infections by L. Corey which no doubt will be used by many to prepare their next grant application. The following chapter by Lopez reviews natural resistance mechanisms to HSV in a competent manner. The next three chapters deal with the immune response to HSV infections; all are somewhat unsatisfactory. Norrild on the humoral response is a little superficial in coverage whilst Nash et al. and Rouse on cellular immunology fall into the trap of blinding the ordinary reader with science. The
chapters by Quinnan and Klein on cellmediated immunity to CMV and EBV infection are more readable. Because there are far more chapters on EBV (Rabin, Pearson, Sullivan and Virelizier) there is inevitably some overlap but the medical aspects are presented in this context such that the reader does not succumb to boredom. The second half of Vol. 4 is concerned with attempts at prophylaxis. Meyer deals in a very readable way with CMV as a problem in organ allografting and Meignier with vaccination against HSV. I found the latter contribution a little worrying in that much admirable new data appears in the chapter without attribution. Plotkin, Gershon and Epstein deal with vaccination against CMV, VZV and EBV respectively. Finally Whiteley gives a review of chemotherapy against the herpesviruses, Lebel and Hirsch of interferon studies, and Werner and Zerial of immunomodulators. From this review, it is evident that these books contain a massive amount of information about the herpesviruses. They must have a place on the bookcase of everybody with a serious interest in the subject. One could argue that the price is too high or that more editing would make them more readable, but this would be churlish - the books are a solid and valuable piece of work and represent a triumph of organisation.
K.L. Powell
MRC Herpesvirus Research Group University of Leeds
Vaccine, Vol. 4, June 1986
135
W.E. Rawls gives his usual succinct statement on the state of our knowledge on HSV and cancer. I would have liked to see some connection between this and the following chapter on the transformation of cells by HSV and cytomegalovirus (CMV - M.J. Tevethia). The last three chapters concern glycoproteins of the herpesviruses and are written by P.G. Spear, G. Campadelli-Fiume and F. Serafini-Cessi, and L. Pereira. The last chapter could perhaps have done with some editorial blue pencil - after all, it is hardly necessary to start chapter nine of the book with ' H u m a n CMV belongs to the herpesvirus, a group of large DNA viruses'. Vol. 4 is much less of a whole than Vol. 3. It contains 19 chapters (most rather short) on the immunology of herpesvirus infections and on the protection of individuals from infection. Inevitably, with so many contributions there is some considerable overlap of subject matter and unevenness in both style and quality of the presentation. The book opens with a masterly chapter on the problem of genital herpes simplex virus infections by L. Corey which no doubt will be used by many to prepare their next grant application. The following chapter by Lopez reviews natural resistance mechanisms to HSV in a competent manner. The next three chapters deal with the immune response to HSV infections; all are somewhat unsatisfactory. Norrild on the humoral response is a little superficial in coverage whilst Nash et al. and Rouse on cellular immunology fall into the trap of blinding the ordinary reader with science. The
chapters by Quinnan and Klein on cellmediated immunity to CMV and EBV infection are more readable. Because there are far more chapters on EBV (Rabin, Pearson, Sullivan and Virelizier) there is inevitably some overlap but the medical aspects are presented in this context such that the reader does not succumb to boredom. The second half of Vol. 4 is concerned with attempts at prophylaxis. Meyer deals in a very readable way with CMV as a problem in organ allografting and Meignier with vaccination against HSV. I found the latter contribution a little worrying in that much admirable new data appears in the chapter without attribution. Plotkin, Gershon and Epstein deal with vaccination against CMV, VZV and EBV respectively. Finally Whiteley gives a review of chemotherapy against the herpesviruses, Lebel and Hirsch of interferon studies, and Werner and Zerial of immunomodulators. From this review, it is evident that these books contain a massive amount of information about the herpesviruses. They must have a place on the bookcase of everybody with a serious interest in the subject. One could argue that the price is too high or that more editing would make them more readable, but this would be churlish - the books are a solid and valuable piece of work and represent a triumph of organisation.
K.L. Powell
MRC Herpesvirus Research Group University of Leeds
Vaccine, Vol. 4, June 1986
135