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Gene Therapy: A Handbook for Physicians
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Kenneth W. Culver. 117 pages. New York: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.; 1994. $44.00.
Gene therapy has been featured on the nightly television news and in national magazines, and now, Dr. Kenneth Culver has written a book on the subject for physicians. Culver was on the team at the National Institutes of Health that did the first clinical trials of gene therapy in 1990. The team infused into two patients with adenosine deaminase deficiency their own T lymphocytes, which had been corrected in the laboratory by the introduction of a normal copy of the human adenosine deaminase gene. Culver describes this exciting first attempt in one chapter and covers the potential uses of gene therapy for cancer and nonmalignant diseases in two other chapters. He also reviews the basic biology of DNA, the ways in which disease-specific genes can be identified, and the way genes are placed into cells.
Despite the breadth of this small book, it is not clear which "physicians" Dr. Culver is addressing. Much of the book is too advanced for physicians that have been in practice and away from medical research for many years, but it is too superficial for those actively involved in medical research. Especially disappointing are the figures, which for many readers should be the most informative part of the book. Culver concludes, however, with five important appendixes that will be invaluable for the general reader; they include a listing of all approved (as of 1 January 1994) clinical gene therapy protocols, an excellent glossary of terms, and a list of the chromosomal locations of all identified human gene diseases. This book may benefit physicians and others interested in gene therapy who want to learn more than what is available from the general media.
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