Immunology Today, Vol. 9, No. 9, 1988

Immunology: A Synthesis

by Edward S. Golub, Sinauer Associates, Inc, 198Z £26.50 (xxii + 551 pages) ISBN

0 87893 268 2

In Immunology: a Synthesis E.S. Golub attempts to introduce stud- ents to immunology by presenting concepts and experiments rather than by providing "a bunch of facts". His lack of inhibition in pre- senting his personal views is admir- able, although in a textbook one might also expect other views to be expressed.

Unfortunately, the book is serious- ly marred. There is almost no section without inelegancies (for example, "there are an estimated i07 differ- ent antibodies, N. Jerne, personal communication, 1986"), typo- graphical errors, stupidities (for ex- ample, there is collaboration be- tween class I and class II MHC anti- gens in the generation of CTL). In addition, there are minor mistakes (for example, hypoxanthine and ad- enine are the precursor molecules used by the enzyme HGPRT in the salvage pathway) and major errors (for example, every individual of a species has only one form of each of

the allotypes on their immunoglobu- lins).

The book is particularly weak in molecular biology. It is suggested, for example, that the leader se- quences (signal peptides) of immunoglobulin heavy and light chains may be needed for transport within the cell because these chains are encoded and synthesized on different chromosomes; that in the assembly of a VH gene, a V-D seg- ment is formed and transposed to the vicinity of a J gene; and that the combinatorial mechanism allows 725 gene segments to be combined into 107 genes.

There is no satisfactory discussion of the important problems related to antigen presentation to and recog- nition by T cells, some of which are now solved. In a section on the 'concept of differentiation antigens' it is stated that the function of dif- ferentiation antigens, if any, is not known; that Lyt 1 antigens are associated with class II MHC restric- tion; that the hallmark of a B cell is to express surface immunoglobulin, while the hallmark of a T cell is to express a differentiation antigen.

Of the 137 figures produced or redrawn with major modifications by the author, 14 contain mistakes that we judge to be major, 32 contain

minor mistakes and 7 lack expla- nations. In some cases it helps to look at Golub's previous book (The Cellular Basis of the Immune Re- sponse) to understand the new edi- tion. The text on pages 2851286, for example, refers to a figure on page 139 of the old book. Contradictions within the new version are more difficult to deal with. For example, it is up to the reader to decide whether IgM passes through the placenta (table) or not (text), or whether T1 is recognized by CD2 or CD5 anti- bodies.

The T suppressor cells, I-J determi- nants, contrasuppressor cells and their transduction are discussed un- critically. Since the chapter on com- plement contained nothing about the physiological functions of com- plement components we looked in the subject index and found 'anaphylatoxins' referring to page 553. The book ends at page 551.

Werner Haas ~ and Hidde Ploegh 2

ICentral Research Units, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, 4002 Basel, Switzerland, and 2The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan

121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

282

Immunology of the Gastrointestinal Tract and

Liver

edited by Martin F. Heyworth and Albert L. Jones, Raven Press, 1987. $701£38 (xii + 242

pages) ISBN 0 88167 357 9

Until recently, the immunological apparatus of the gut and associated abdomiral organs has been relatively neglected by immunologists. This situation exists despite the fact that the lymphoid aggregates and the dispersed, intraepithelial and lamina propria lymphoid cells of the gut together comprise the largest of all mammalian lymphoid organs; im- munity to enteric infections is of much greater relevance to the sur- vival of the species than the aberrant immunity associated with auto- immune disease or malignancies. In

the past 12 years, several books and monographs on gastrointestinal im- munology have been published, and hepatic immunology has been in- cluded in some; in the publicity leaf- let about this book, it is implied that this is the first volume to provide thorough coverage of the subject - an incorrect statement. However, closer inspection of their text indi- cates that the publishers are simply claiming that it is the first book to provide "a concise and comprehen- sive review of advances made in recent years in understanding of nor- mal immunological processes in the gut and liver".

I support the editors in their view that it ts essential to understand nor- mal processes before attempting to investigate, elucidate and eventually reverse the mechanisms of immuno- pathological diseases. To a large ex- tent they have achieved their clearly specified and quite limited objectives

in the first section of this volume, in relation to gastrointestinal tract im- munology. The first seven chapters of this book cover lymphocytes, macrophages, mast cells in the gut mucosa, and to a lesser extent im- munoglobulin secretion and its regu- lation. The authors are all reputable immunological investigators; the text, ideas, concepts and hypothesis are topical with many recent refer- ences and will certainly provide a sound foundation for any investi- gator or research student seeking an up-to-date review of recent litera- ture.

In contrast to the very thorough coverage of gut mucosal lymphoid cells, immunological functions of the liver are dealt with in only eight pages of text; the contents of this short chapter are interesting and provocative, covering novel aspects of liver immunology such as liver lymphocytes and with a page on IgA

Immunology Today, Vol. 9, No. 9, 1988

transport. However, this chapter would be greatly strengthened by a general review of the functions of the liver in antigen handling and immunomodulation.

Most of the authors have care- fully, and without interrupting the general flow of text, differentiated information accrued from ex- perimental animal work from facts relevant to man. A number of clinical topics are touched upon in the general chapters, none thoroughly. It is disappointing that in a book purporting to provide a foundation for study of the normal, important aspects of clinical immunology - for example the ontogeny of the im- mune system of the gut in man -

normal patterns of immune re- sponses to buccal and enterically en- countered antigen are omitted. The last few chapters deal with a selec- tion of clinical topics, which appear to have been chosen relativeiy ran- domly and certainly do not reflect the most important new advances in applications of mucosal immunology - enteric vaccine development and food allergy immediately come to mind.

In summary, 7 of the i l chapters in this book are very good and pro- vide a sound, thought-provoking and clearly written description of the cellular basis of gastrointestinal im- munity as we see it at the end of the 1980s. This is a book for committed

immunologists, not only those work- ing on the gut but with many points of relevance to research workers whose work relates to other mucosal surfaces, vaccine development and allergy. The gaps in the book high- light the importance, now, of testing in man some of the hypotheses de- rived from work in experimental animals. We have yet to confirm that some of the important physiological principles, such as oral tolerance, are relevant to species other than rodents.

Anne Ferguson

Gastro-lntestinal Unit, Western General Hos- pital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK. ................

Differentiation Antigens in Lymphohemopoietic

Tissues

edited by M. Miyasaka and Z. Trnka, Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1988. $135 (xxiv + 531 pages)

ISBN 0 8247 7805 7

The development of technology to produce monoclonal antibodies has ~,=,,,,,,~=u investigators to charac- terize in detail the cell surface anti- gens of lymphohemopoietic cells. As a result, it is now possible to use panels of monoclonal antibodies to study cell-cell interactions, to ident- ify cells of various lineages, to isolate distinct populations, and to define maturational sequences of lymphoid and myeloid cells. These types of studies have been performed in many species. This contribution to the Immunology series aims to pro- vide, in the words of the editors, "within one volume, a comprehen- sive review of these antigens investi- gated in various animal species". The editors have assembled a collection of 15 papers that deal with differ- entiation antigens on lymphohemo- poietic tissues of humans, mice, rats, guinea pigs, syrian hamsters, dogs, rabbits, birds, Xenopus, swine, sheep and cattle.

As noted in the forward by Jean Dausset, this volume "has the merit of collecting data that are sparse and difficult to find in the literature". This is particularly true for infor-

marion on non-humans and the vari- ous chapters provide a comprehen- sive overview of markers used to identify hemopoietic cells. In most of these chapters, the authors review information regarding differentia- tion antigens present on lymphoid and myeloid cells and on hemopoie- tic progenitor populations. The infor- mation in these chapters is often presented in tabular form making it possible to find data rapidly. The chapter by Jeffries on hemopoietic and T-cell antigens in the rat is par- ticularly notable in this regard. Also, the references cited in the various chapters are generally quite exten- sive.

As expected, a volume of this size has great difficulty reviewing all that is known about differentiation anti- gens on murine and human hemo- poietic cells. Consequently, these chapters tend to be more selective in their discussions and focus on class II major histocompatibility antigens, human or murine T cells, or murine B cells. The chapter by Mathieson and Sharrow on murine thymocyte and T-cell surface antigens is excellent and provides a comprehensive re- view that would be of value to inves- tigators in this area as well as to those who need an introduction to this topic. Similarly, the chapter by Bhan and Bhan presents information regarding human T-cell antigens and discusses how such information can be used to analyse lymphoprolifer- alive disorders. There is a tendency for some authors to drift away from

the theme of this volume and discuss their own experimental data. While such information is of interest, it is at the cost of information on dif- ferentiation antigens of the various lineages under discussion.

Comparative immunologic analysis presents opportunities for understand- ing the ontogeny and phylogeny of the immune and hemopoietic systems in addition to learning more about the species being studied. The chapter on Xenopus hemopoietic cells by Flajnak et al. presents a brief discussion of the importance of this. For the most part, however, this volume presents descriptive infor- mation in the various chapters regarding differentiation antigens which have been characterized in the different species. It woula have been of value, although arguably inconsistent with the aim of the book, to have included a general chapter that ties the information together from a comparative point of view. While this volume cannot be considered to be the definitive reference source for information on murine and human differentiation antigens, it is undoubtedly one of the best collections of information on all other species for which data are available. Thus, the book should be of great value to many investigators.

Kenneth Dorshkind

Division of Biomedical Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0121, USA. 283