Growth Kinetics and Biochemical Regulation of Normal and Malignant Cells ed. by B. Drewinko and R. M. Humphrey (review)

clinical trials may be of general interest on a less-limited basis. The discussions of the clinical management of bladder cancer by the chairman of the National Bladder Cancer Organ Site Group, is, of course, noteworthy. One wishes that other sites could have been covered, but then again that may not reflect the current areas of interest of the editors-in-chief and their other associates and colleagues. Gerald P. Murphy Roswell Park Memorial Institute Buffalo, New York Growth Kinetics and Biochemical Regufotion ofNormal and Malignant Cells. Edited by B. Drewinko and R. M. Humphrey. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1977. Pp. xv +900. $45.95. This well-edited and handsome volume is composed of papers presented at the 29th Annual Symposium of Fundamental Cancer Research, covering most aspects ofour understanding today of the cell cycle and its possible manipulation in vitro and in vivo. Much of this knowledge has been accumulated during the last 2 decades, stimulated by the hope of applying such information to human cancer therapy. Divided into 10 main chapters, each made up of several related papers by outstanding scientists in each field from the United States and abroad, it is nevertheless a well-rounded book, offering a wealth of theoretical and technical information on cellular kinetics. The first five chapters are devoted to the biological and biochemical aspects of cellular kinetics, cell-cycle related events, regulation of growth—including the latest on chalones—and an excellent overview of cell-kinetics analysis, followed by six papers on mathematical models of growth kinetics (e.g., the quantitative analysis of the cell cycle). The application of such models make up the next chapter, followed by five papers on cellular kinetics in the experimental systems, including an informative paper on the difficult problem of cell synchronization in vivo. Models of normal and malignant human-cell populations, and the effect upon such populations of cytotoxins and ionizing radiation, are then discussed. This leads to the last and longest chapter, devoted to the practical application of the present-day knowledge of cellular growth kinetics to human cancer therapy. While this volume is clearly directed to the oncologist, it has something to offer everyone interested in cellular proliferation and its control mechanisms. While the bibliographies added after each paper are not exhaustive, they are generally pertinent. The first few chapters, especially, offer a good overview of the current ideas on the description of cell cycles which should make this timely book useful to a wide audience. KATT? DZOGA Department of Pathology University of Chicago Perspectives in Biology and Medicine ¦ Spring 1979 | 459 ...