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Book Review: Basic Immunology: Functions

and Disorders of the Immune System
Article in American Journal of Epidemiology January 2002
Impact Factor: 5.23 DOI: 10.1093/aje/155.2.185-a Source: OAI

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American Journal of Epidemiology

Copyright 2002 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
All rights reserved

Vol. 155, No. 2

Printed in U.S.A.

Book Reviews Book Reviews

BOOK REVIEWS

From the Editor

In a recent issue of the Journal, Arnold Monto reviewed
the flamboyant and controversial book, The River: A
Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS (1). Readers will
recall that Monto effectively debunked author Edward
Hoopers thesis that human immunodeficiency virus had
entered the human population either by use of or contamination by simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)cpz-infected
cells from West African chimpanzees allegedly used in an
experimental oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) tested in more
than a million West Africans during the 1950s. Monto mentioned, but did not elaborate on, a 2-day meeting of the
Royal Society in London and recent reports that should
have negated Hoopers allegations. The Royal Society meeting was described in an article in the journal Science last
year (2). That meeting brought together a number of
acquired immunodeficiency virus researchers as well as veteran participants in the OPV trials. Of particular relevance
were representatives of three laboratories that had been
studying the molecular biology of remaining samples of the
vaccine. Preliminary reports indicated that all samples
tested negative for SIV and human immunodeficiency virus

and positive for mitochondrial DNA from monkeys, but not

from chimpanzees. Hilary Koprowski and her colleagues,
who had produced the vaccine, had consistently maintained
that only monkey kidney cells had been used to produce it.
Subsequently, a report in Science provided detailed data on
the molecular analyses of coded samples of the imputed
OPV and control materials (3). Confirming the earlier preliminary reports, no evidence was found for the presence of
chimpanzee DNA in the OPV samples, although monkey
DNA was identified.

REFERENCES
1. Monto A. The river: a journey to the source of HIV and AIDS.
(Review). Am J Epidemiol 2001;154:4845.
2. Cohen J. Vaccine theory of AIDS origins disputed at Royal
Society. Science 2000;289:18501.
3. Poinar H, Kuch M, Paabo S. Molecular analyses of oral polio
vaccine samples. Science 2001;292:7434.

Warren Winkelstein, Jr.

Basic Immunology: Functions and Disorders of the Immune System

Abul K. Abbas and Andrew H. Lichtman
0721693164, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Telephone: 2152387800; Fax: 2152387883),
2001, 309 pp., $43.95
Having already produced a now classic immunology textbook (1), Abbas and Lichtman have done another good job in
preparing this book primarily for students and others with little or no background in immunology. It will also serve
researchers with little training in immunology well. Todays
immunology, at its current level of complexity, could not be
put into 232 pages of text in a more comprehensive, yet
accessible, way. The plain language, coupled with the unintimidating size of the book, relieves the apprehensive reader
at the outset. Abundant diagrams, figures, charts, and tables
make it easier to follow the subject. A majority of these are in
color. Even the text is frequently decorated with sections in
boldface type to emphasize key concepts so that by just skimming through the pages and reading only those highlighted
sections one can get a quick sense of basic immunology in
minutes. But there is more. Each chapter is summarized in
bullet form with accompanying review questions. The book
ends with a list of suggested readings (carefully selected
except for the reference to the 1993 map of the human major

histocompatibility complex (MHC) which is now updated by

the report of the MHC Sequencing Consortium in Nature,
1999;401:921) and three appendices containing 1) a list of
known CD molecules, 2) a 24-page glossary, and 3) five clinical cases with questions and answers. The index is rather
comprehensive as well. Nothing in this book seems to have
been done just for the sake of it, and the precious whole is
presented as a handy package.
The book consists of 12 chapters, which cover almost
every topic found in larger classic textbooks. The first chapter introduces the immune system, with photographs of cells
and organs of the immune system, beautiful drawings,
graphs, and tables. Anybody who finds the current field
incomprehensible should study this chapter; it is bound to
leave the reader with a full appreciation of modern
immunology. The next chapter moves on to a subject fast
gaining interest: innate immunity. These 18 pages introduce
the reader to the cells of the innate immune system,
chemokines, cytokines, and complement molecules as well
185

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Book Reviews

as clinical disorders arising from defects in each of these.

The latest developments in the fast-growing area of natural
killer cell biology is treated more superficially, perhaps on
purpose, because the topic is difficult to comprehend in a
textbook of this scope, and the more curious reader must
turn to journal articles for the latest information about natural killer receptors and functions. The next six chapters
cover adaptive immunity: antigen presentation, antigen
recognition, and cell-mediated and humoral immune
responses. In these chapters, the authors are fluid and effective in describing immunologic phenomena, such as antigen
processing and presentation, T-cell receptor and
immunoglobulin gene rearrangements, and immunoglobulin
class switching. The remaining chapters cover tolerance and
autoimmunity, cancer and transplant immunology, and
hypersensitivity and immunodeficiencies. This section
achieves an especially fine balance between basic and clinical immunology. Throughout the book, the biochemical
foundations are presented in sufficient detail and plain language. The authors take every opportunity to supply the
logic behind some names or abbreviations and to clarify
misconceptions about them. They do it, for example, for the
reticuloendothelial system, the tumor necrosis factor, the Fc
portion of the immunoglobulin molecule, interleukin, interferon, complement, and caspase, but there are occasional
lapses, as with the chain of the T-cell receptor, which is
simply listed even in the glossary as (under Z) rather than
zeta. The only factual error I noted was in the last paragraph of the book, where Kaposis sarcoma is linked to
HHV6 rather than HHV8.
Future editions might include a chapter or an appendix on
immunologic methods. Brief explanation and illustration of
key bench procedures would complete the splendid grand
tour of the immunologic world. Although certainly not an
imperfection for this book, the cursory coverage of immunogenetics would force a molecular epidemiologist looking for
something more substantial to search elsewhere. However,

an accessible synthesis of immunology and genetics is rare

in other general texts as well. Future editions may need to
devote more space to immunogenetics.
Overall this book is very well written and attractively
illustrated. For those who aim to review and/or update basic
immunology without being overwhelmed, it is strongly recommended. It ranks with other introductory works (e.g.
Lecture Notes on Immunology by Reeves and Todd (2) and
The Immune System by Parham (3)). For a reader ready to
take the next step, there is Kubys Immunology (4) and the
2001 edition of Immunobiology by Janeway et al. (5). No
matter which textbook is selected, because of the accelerated
pace of discovery in biomedical science and in immunology,
in particular, the inevitable concern arises over when another
useful volume might appear. In this case, a reader in need of
basic knowledge can unhesitatingly choose the current
edition of Basic Immunology and eagerly await the next.

REFERENCES
1. Abbas AK, Lichtman AH, Pober JS. Cellular and molecular
immunology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders Co,
2000.
2. Reeves G, Todd I. Lecture notes in immunology. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Science, 2000.
3. Parham P. The immune system. New York, NY: Garland
Publishing, Inc, 2000.
4. Goldsby RA, Kindt TJ, Osborne BA, et al. Kubys immunology. 4th ed. New York, NY: W. H. Freeman & Co., 2000.
5. Janeway C, Travers P, Alport M, et al. Immunobiology. 5th ed.
New York, NY: Garland Publishing, Inc, 2001.

M. Tevfik Dorak
Department of Epidemiology and
International Health
School of Public Health
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Birmingham, AL 352940022

Am J Epidemiol Vol. 155, No. 2, 2002