American Journal of Medical Genetics 59:527 (1995)

Book Review

HEREDITARY TUMORS Edited by M.L. Brandi and R; White

Serono Symposia Publications, Volume 83 Raven Press, 1991, New York, New York

218 pp.

These are the proceedings of the invited lectures from the International Symposium of Hereditary Tumors, held in Florence, Italy, April 22-24, 1991. The purpose of the symposium was “to provide a summary of current information on the pathogenetic events that lead to neoplastic growth in families with cancer predisposi- tion.” It was also hoped that the book “will serve as a reference source” to researchers and physicians in the cancer field who are “confronted with genetic problems and use concepts and methodology of human genetics in research and diagnosis.”

The specific cancerhmor problems chosen for dis- cussion at the meeting were likely influenced by the interests of the organizers, the Postgraduate School of Endocrinology and the Department of Clinical Phys- iopathology of the University of Florence. Five of the 20 chapters are reports on multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes. Wilms tumor and retinoblastoma are both given two chapters each, and are also reviewed briefly by other discussants. A separate chapter is devoted to each of the following: Wiedemann-Beckwith syndrome, neurofibromatosis, familial melanoma, and lung cancer. Genome imprinting, oncogenes, growth inhibitory cyto- kines, regulators of cells, and suppressor genes are among topics included in an abbreviated fashion. Fa- milial polyposis of the colon is not discussed in any de- tail, except for a chapter regarding surgical manage- ment. Breast cancer is not directly dealt with, as is also true for a number of other tumorshyndromes such as von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, basal cell nevus, etc.

Upon receipt of my copy of this book, I was initially disappointed in that it seemed of little help in improv- ing skills in patient management, and I was concerned that it might have been written more for bench re- searchers. However, on further review, I found it in- triguing, stimulating interest in thinking of concepts and methodology involved in building our knowledge of cancer genetics, and in improving abilities to interact with one another as clinicians and researchers. This is not a “how-to” book intending to be complete in family cancer diagnosis or bench research. Not a book of syn- dromology or a medical textbook, and without an index,

it is unlikely that this book will find its way t o the clinic. On the other hand, the molecular genetic discus- sions are generally understandable on their own, with- out expectations that readers will be graduates of bio- chemistry. Unfortunately, for this very reason, it is likely not to be as useful as a reference for bench researchers.

The organization of the book suffers some, as a result of being a summary of a meeting. Subdivisions are given titles after the fact, so that some chapters in the subdivisions do not seem well placed (they just had to go somewhere). The subdivisions are entitled: Genetic Mechanisms of Hereditary Tumors, Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Syndromes, Genetics of Predisposition and Progression, Function(s) of Tumor Suppressor Genes, Epigenetics and Genetics of Metastasis, and Genetics of Widespread Tumors. Each chapter outline varies ac- cording to the author, most of whom are internationally recognized experts in the field of cancer genetics. Some of them have done a superb job of summarizing the on- going research process and the creative thinking in- volved in their laboratories as they pursue answers to cancer questions. I found this the most fascinating as- pect of the book. Some chapters are summaries of re- search findings, related to the assigned topic. A big stumbling block in putting together the number of in- dependent writings in this book is that the authors generally felt compelled to review the field prior to ad- dressing the unique aspects of their reports.

The quality of the book varies somewhat from chap- ter to chapter. A few typing errors are present, in addi- tion to a missing Table I1 mentioned on page 20, and an omission in a figure on page 62. Size of the print is not uniform throughout the book.

This book is likely to be interesting to investigators of human cancer genetics. It deserves to be read and reread by those who have an interest in the why and how of tumor development. No doubt such a book will be outdated (even before publication); however, the processes of planning and working out research remain the same. The types of tumors and syndromes showing up in the human body change little, and the ongoing saga, combining multiple individual successes in re- search, toward understanding this big puzzle keeps us on the edge of our chairs.

Mary Curtis Arkansas Genetics Program Arkansas Children’s Hospital Little Rock, Arkansas

0 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.