Prostaglandins

Knowledge of the structure and synthesis of antibodies (immunoglobulins) has developed to a remarkable degree in the last decade. Distinct classes of immunoglobulin (yG, yM, -yA, yD, yE, and their subgroups) have been identified and shown to consist of fixed numbers of light and heavy polypeptide chains organized in pairs. Each polypeptide has a segment of variable amino acid sequence; the specific antibody combining site is formed by the juxtaposed variable segments of light and heavy members of a given pair. Chemical definition of these structures has reached the point where it has become profitable to investigate, on the one hand, the biosynthesis of separate types of polypeptide and their assembly into complete immunoglobulin molecules and, on the other, the genetic mechanism determining the differences of amino acid sequence responsible for the astonishing diversity of specific antibodies actually formed. The present volume contains the proceedings of the third Nobel symposium, held June 12-17, 1967, near Stockholm, devoted to this general subject and attended by an elite gathering of approximately 50 scientists. The symposium was organized by Tiselius and Waldenstr6m with the help of several outstanding younger Swedish colleagues. Of those participating, appropriately enough, half were Scandinavians while half of the foreign vistors were from the United States, another quarter from Great Britain. and the remainder from numerous other parts of the world. Many were molecular biologists or protein chemists whose interest in antibody synthesis arises from the fact that it provides a particularly convenient model in which to study specificity and regulation at the molecular level. The resulting work is a superb compendium of available knowledge and current work in the field, even including electron micrographs of individual immunoglobulin molecules and reproductions in color of cells stained by the immunofluorescent techniques to show the production of individual polypeptide chains. The 643 pages, having narrow margins, provide a large amount of information, fully documented with graphs and tables. Photographs are mainly of electrophoretic and gel diffusion patterns rather than of cells and tissues. Each paper is followed by a bibliography, usually containing 20 to 30 references, and many by a page or two of well edited discussion. There is unfortunately no index, and this will inevitably lessen the volume's usefulness. The language is English throughout.