Trendsin Biotechnology, Vol.3, No. 3, 1985
80
Introducing recombinant DNA
GENE CLONING: THE MECHANICS OF
DNA MANIPULATION (2ND EDITION,
OUTLINE STUDIES IN BIOLOGY)
by David M. Glover, Chapman and
Hall 1984. £7.95 (viii + 222 pages)
I S B N 0 412 25430 1
Although still part of the same series,
the rapidity of developments and
applications in gene cloning has necessitated a drastic revision of the earlier
(1980) text of this book. The result is a
much larger and more detailed volume
than others in the series, but still
reasonably priced and well produced.
It must be made clear that this book
is not a manual, despite its subtitle and
the similarity in title with the Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratory Molecular
Cloning. Glover's aim is to give both
the biological and molecular background to the techniques ofgene cloning, to describe the principles of why
and how things are done rather than to
give recipes. Undergraduate and
graduate students in molecular
biology are the intended audience,
together with research workers
needing to acquaint themselves with
recombinant D N A techniques. It is a
crowded field of publishing, and
Glover's book must compete with
others, such as Principles of Gene
Manipulation (Old and Primrose), An
Introduction to Recombinant D N A
(Emery) and Techniques in Molecular
Biology (Walker and Gaastra).
Glover covers the topics that might
be expected, with chapters on plasmid
and phage vectors, expression in E.
coli and mammalian cells, cloning in
plants and fungi and the techniques of
cloning and detecting cloned DNA.
He presents a lot of information in a
compressed form and it is sometimes
heavy going. There are occasional
lapses into unexplained jargon, for
example 'breathing duplexes' (p. 30).
The large number of good diagrams
make a significant contribution to
understanding the text. The contents
are as up-to-date as can be expected,
with a high proportion of 1983
references. The book seems free of
textual errors although the orientations of Figures 6.4 and 6.15 do not
match the text and caption descriptions.
How does the book compare with its
rivals? Comparison with Emery and
with Walker and Gaastra is in fact
inappropriate. The former really is an
introductory text as regards the
techniques ofgene cloning but is very
good on clinical applications of
recombinant DNA, while the latter
Getting interferon into the clinic
INTERFERON: RESEARCH, CLINICAL
APPLICATION,AND REGULATORY
CONSIDERATION
edited by K. C. Zoon, P. D. Noguchi
and T.-Y. Lin, Elsevier, 1984.
$49.00/Dfl. 155.00 (xiii + 314 pages)
I S B N 0 444 00937 X
Interferon was discovered nearly 30
years ago and this raised many hopes
that a cure for viral diseases would soon
be available. Progress was slow because
it was found that large amounts (for that
time) were needed for it to be effective.
The advent of the new biotechnologies
provided the quantities of material required for wide ranging clinical investigations.
The development of a biologically
interesting substance into a pharmaceutical that is the treatment of choice
for particular medical conditions is a
long and arduous process. Interferon is
part way through that process and as
one of the first novel products of the
new biotechnologies, it provides an
interesting example of how that process
is being approached. Interferon, therefore, may serve as a model for the
development of other new biologicals
whose existence was not even known
before genetic engineering.
The first step in the development of a
new drug is to isolate, purify and
characterize the molecule of interest.
Interferon was found to be a composite
of native molecules, which were
divided on the basis of their molecular
structure and their biological proper-
© 1985,ElsevierSciencePublishersB.V.,Amsterdam 0166-9430/85l$02.00
deals with a variety of techniaues in
addition to those involved in gene
cloning. 01d and Primrose and Glover
have very similar aims, are directed at
the same readers and cover pretty
much the same ground with equal
success. Glover has the advantages of
being more up-to-date and perhaps
having more facts per page, and I think
his book has the edge. I recommend it
as a comprehensive and detailed
introduction to recombinant DNA.
JAN WITKOWSKI
Imperial Cancer Research Fund
Laboratories,
Dominion
House,
Bartholomew Close, London EC1A
7BE, UK.
ties into three types. One class was
further subdivided into at least ten individual species. It was not clear which
would be the best in any particular circumstance. A greater understanding of
the mode of action of interferon will
enable discrimination between the
various types of interferon now available and their different antiviral, antiproliferative and natural killer cell stimulating activities. On this basis, it may
be possible to decide which interferon
to use in any particular clinical setting.
Some understanding of the interferons
has enabled hybrid interferon molecules that have new and possibly advantageous properties to be constructed.
Sufficient interferon has been
prepared for clinical use, both from traditional and recombinant D N A
sources. Trials have been and are being
conducted in which either viral or malignant diseases are being treated with
interferon. In both cases, the results
vary from very encouraging to discouraging. It is not known which one
(or several) of the pleiotropic effects of
interferon is responsible for the successes and which for the failures in the
clinic. It has been difficult to ascribe the
results found thus far to the type of
interferon being used, its schedule or
the disease being treated. Despite this,
the value of interferon therapy has been
demonstrated in some viral infections.
Phase II trials are also being conducted
to test the efficacy of interferon in
several different malignancies. The
combined experience with interferon in
the clinic now includes several hundred
patients.
Standardization of interferon preparations and testing them for toxicity