Book review
Survey and future research in immunologyof infectious disease
A review by E. Lee
Immunology and Evolution of Infectious Disease. By
Steven A., Frank. Princeton University Press. 2002. Paper
$24.95/£17.95 ISBN 0-691-09595-7. Cloth $75.00/
£52.00 ISBN 0-691-09594-9. 352 pp.
As stated in the book’s introduction, it is necessary to
understand multiple disciplines in order to understand
immunology and evolution of infectious disease. The
author provides this background by guiding the reader
through basic details of molecular biology, the popula-
tion-wide evolutionary race between host and parasite,
and the steps in between. He also provides an in-depth
summary of a biological system involving multiple spatial
and temporal scales. This book is not the first of its kind:
it is however, still important for two reasons. (1) The
rapid rate of scientific development makes it easy for one
to specialize in a single field while losing connection with
others. With fewer than 300 pages, this book provides a
relatively compact, yet in-depth summary of a broad and
detailed array of results. (2) As an active researcher in the
field, the author can provide an insider’s view. Each
chapter concludes with a section stating what he believes
are the important questions and future directions. The
final chapter is devoted to the same topic.
The book is divided into five parts. (1) Minimal
background details necessary to understand the rest of
book are given. (2) Molecular processes by which the
host recognizes the parasite are described. A brief
overview of common mechanisms by which the parasite
escapes detection is also given. (3) Infection within a
single host is described. Initial focus is on immunodom-
inance, where the host recognizes the parasite with a
small number of many possible epitopes. An overview is
given of the dynamics of parasite recognition to illustrate
selection pressures on the host as well as potential
problems with immundominance for the host. The focus
then shifts to the parasite, where it is explained how the
parasite escapes detection within a host. The author looks
at real examples of the human immunodeficiency and
hepatitis C viruses to see how parasites interfere with
host immunity. (4) The focus shifts from the individual
host to a population of hosts. The author points out that
some qualities can only be seen at the population scale.
Examples are genetic variation and the distribution of
immune memory profiles in the host population. Effects
of host populations on the parasites are described.
(5) Methods of understanding how evolution leads to
antigenic variation in the parasite are described. One
method is to compare immunological and phylogenetic
information to determine whether the immune system is
imposing stabilizing or divergent selection. Another is
experimental evolution, where host properties are mani-
pulated and the resulting evolution of parasite antigens
are observed in the laboratory. Particular examples
include foot-and-mouth disease, influenza and leukae-
mia viruses. A third method was to look at synonymous
and non-synonymous mutations in natural populations
to determine the degree of selection on viral amino acids.
The author effectively connects immunology and evo-
lution whenever possible. Development of ideas is smooth
and the book is for the most part, self-contained. It also
provides an excellent survey, and with over 500 refer-
ences, it makes a good reference guide to current devel-
opments. This makes it suitable for researchers and
graduate students in related fields, as well as an excellent
starting point for interdisciplinary research or topics for a
graduate seminar. This book should also be of considerable
interest to those studying the link between genotypes and
phenotypes, or genotype–phenotype maps. Viruses are
ideal for at least two reasons: (1) they are simple enough so
that the interaction between viral parts and how they
contribute to fitness can be effectively studied as the
author explains with experimental evolution and (2) they
are structurally rich enough to produce non-trivial beha-
viour. Recent results as well as the author’s suggestions for
future research may provide a glimpse into important
future developments for genotype–phenotype map stud-
ies. Undergraduates and newcomers may however,
experience difficulty. By the nature of the discipline, the
book is very dense and difficult to read straight through.
This is helped by the summaries at the beginning of each
chapter, each of the five parts, and in the introduction.
Another difficulty for the non-expert is that there are
relatively few pictures, making it difficult to visualize
many of the systems. Reference books may be helpful,
especially when molecular descriptions are involved.
Eric Lee
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
Yale University, PO Box 208106,
New Haven,
CT 06520-8106,
USA
1346 J . E V O L . B I O L . 1 6 ( 2 0 0 3 ) 1 3 4 6 ª 2 0 0 3 B L A C K W E L L P U B L I S H I N G L T D
doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003.00580.x
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