Human Herpesviruses


Book Description

This comprehensive account of the human herpesviruses provides an encyclopedic overview of their basic virology and clinical manifestations. This group of viruses includes human simplex type 1 and 2, Epstein–Barr virus, Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, cytomegalovirus, HHV6A, 6B and 7, and varicella-zoster virus. The viral diseases and cancers they cause are significant and often recurrent. Their prevalence in the developed world accounts for a major burden of disease, and as a result there is a great deal of research into the pathophysiology of infection and immunobiology. Another important area covered within this volume concerns antiviral therapy and the development of vaccines. All these aspects are covered in depth, both scientifically and in terms of clinical guidelines for patient care. The text is illustrated generously throughout and is fully referenced to the latest research and developments.




Encyclopedia of Cancer


Book Description

This comprehensive encyclopedic reference provides rapid access to focused information on topics of cancer research for clinicians, research scientists and advanced students. Given the overwhelming success of the first edition, which appeared in 2001, and fast development in the different fields of cancer research, it has been decided to publish a second fully revised and expanded edition. With an A-Z format of over 7,000 entries, more than 1,000 contributing authors provide a complete reference to cancer. The merging of different basic and clinical scientific disciplines towards the common goal of fighting cancer makes such a comprehensive reference source all the more timely.







The Molecular Biology of Adenoviruses I


Book Description

A puzzling epidemiological problem was the driving force behind the discovery of human adenoviruses by Wallace Rowe and his colleagues 30 years ago. The de velopment of a plaque assay for poliomyelitis virus in 1953 led us to the threshold of quantitative virology, and in the same year the double-helical structure of DNA was discovered and became a cornerstone of mo lecular biology. The potential of adenoviruses as research tools in the molecular and cellular biology of eukaryotic cells was recognized as early as the late 1950s and early 1960s by several investigators. Structural and biochemical stu dies dominated the early years. In 1962, some of the adenoviruses were the first human viruses shown to be oncogenic in experimental animals. Thus adenovirology offered the investigator the entire gamut of host cell interactions, productive and abortive, as well as trans formed and tumor cell systems. The possibilities that adenoviruses afforded for the study of the molecular biology and genetics of eukaryotic cells were fully rea lized in the late 1960s and the 1970s.







Adenoviral Vectors for Gene Therapy


Book Description

Adenoviral Vectors for Gene Therapy, Second Edition provides detailed, comprehensive coverage of the gene delivery vehicles that are based on the adenovirus that is emerging as an important tool in gene therapy. These exciting new therapeutic agents have great potential for the treatment of disease, making gene therapy a fast-growing field for research. This book presents topics ranging from the basic biology of adenoviruses, through the construction and purification of adenoviral vectors, cutting-edge vectorology, and the use of adenoviral vectors in preclinical animal models, with final consideration of the regulatory issues surrounding human clinical gene therapy trials. This broad scope of information provides a solid overview of the field, allowing the reader to gain a complete understanding of the development and use of adenoviral vectors. - Provides complete coverage of the basic biology of adenoviruses, as well as their construction, propagation, and purification of adenoviral vectors - Introduces common strategies for the development of adenoviral vectors, along with cutting-edge methods for their improvement - Demonstrates noninvasive imaging of adenovirus-mediated gene transfer - Discusses utility of adenoviral vectors in animal disease models - Considers Federal Drug Administration regulations for human clinical trials




Viral Vectors


Book Description

Genetic manipulation of the adult mammalian nervous system is one of the most exciting areas in contemporary neurobiology. The explosive growth of this field has been facilitated by harnessing the power of viruses to transfer genetic material into mammalian cells.Viral Vectors: Gene Therapy and Neuroscience Applications represents the first comprehensive review of viral vector applications to the nervous system by leaders in virology, molecular neurobiology, neuroanatomy, and developmental neurobiology. It serves both as a source of fundamental information for those newly interested in viral vectors and as a compilation of state-of-the-art technologies and applications for more experienced researchers.This work provides expert background information on viral systems, and the broad range of applications will help readers appreciate the current and future impact of viral vectors in both clinical and basic neuroscience.




The Epstein-Barr Virus


Book Description

The Epstein-Barr virus was discovered 15 years ago. Since that time an immense body of information has been accumu lated on this agent which has come to assume great signifi cance in many different fields of biological science. Thus, the virus has very special relevance in human medicine and oncology, in tumor virology, in immunology, and in mole cular virology, since it is the cause of infectious mononu cleosis and also the first human cancer virus, etiologically related to endemic Burkitt's lymphoma and probably to nasopharyngeal carcinoma. In addition, continuous human lymphoid cell lines initiated and maintained by the transform ing function of the virus genome provide a laboratory tool with wide and ever-growing applications. Innumerable papers on the Epstein-Barr virus have ap peared over recent years and reports of work with this agent now constitute a veritable flood. The present book provides the first and only comprehensive, authoritative over-view of all aspects of the virus by authors who have been the original and major contributors in their particular disciplines. A complete and up-to-date survey of this unique and important agent is thus provided which should be of great interest to experts, teachers, and students engaged in cancer research, virology, immunology, molecular biology, epide miology, and cell culture. Where topics have been dealt with from more than one of these viewpoints, some inevitable overlap and duplication has resulted; although this has been kept to a minimum, it has been retained in some places because of positive usefulness.




The Development of Human Gene Therapy


Book Description

The idea of human gene therapy was accepted by the medical community and society at large long before believable clinical benefits began to emerge. In this book, some of the fields most distinguished contributors chronicle the evolution of this momentous direction for medicine, illustrating how imaginative concepts shaped the development of technologies and brought the daring new idea to its current position of imminent practical success. This is a book designed to endure as clinical advances accumulate, a clear-eyed work of reference that will anchor the further development of this revolution in therapy. It is an essential addition to libraries of clinical medicine, biotechnology, and public policy, and a resource that no laboratory investigator with an interest in the biology of gene transfer should be without.




Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) Vectors in Gene Therapy


Book Description

Human gene therapy holds great promise for the cure of many genetic diseases. In order to achieve such a cure there are two requirements. First, the affected gene must be cloned, its se quence determined and its regulation adequately characterized. Second, a suitable vector for the delivery of a good copy of the affected gene must be available. For a vector to be of use several attributes are highly desirable: these include ability to carry the intact gene (although this may be either the genomic or the cDNA form) in a stable form, ability to introduce the gene into the desired cell type, ability to express the introduced gene in an appropriately regulated manner for an extended period of time, and a lack of toxicity for the recipient. Also of concern is the frequency of cell transformation and, in some cases, the ability to introduce the gene into nondividing stem cells. Sev eral animal viruses have been tested as potential vectors, but none has proven to have all the desired properties described above. For example, retroviruses are difficult to propagate in sufficient titers, do not integrate into nondividing cells, and are of concern because of their oncogenic properties in some hosts and because they integrate at many sites in the genome and, thus, are potentially insertional mutagens. Additionally, genes introduced by retroviral vectors are frequently expressed for relatively short periods of time. A second virus used as a vector in model systems has been adenovirus (Ad).