NK Mehra (ed.) Published by Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, New Delhi, 2010, ISBN: 978-81-8448-870-8, pp 577; $195
The scientific and medical communities today have a wealth of on-line resources to supplement research and clinical needs. Seldom, however, can comprehensive information readily be retrieved from a single source, especially on a subject as complex as the major histocompatibility complex and biomedical implications of human leukocyte antigen (HLA). The HLA Complex in Biology and Medicine truly lives up to its mission—a new resource book that bridges the discipline from the basic genomic organization of the MHC and tools for characterization of HLA genes and allodeterminants, to the clinical ramifications of HLA diversity and approaches for data analysis. In Section I, the foundation of the HLA system is laid with a primer of the immune system. New students will delight in the historical perspective of the discovery of HLA and the sentinel milestones in the field. In Section II, focused reviews of the genetic organization, structure, and nomenclature of classical and non-classical molecules are presented; tools for HLA typing and analysis, and database repositories currently available to house HLA information, provide the reader with the basics of structure and information systems to capture sequence and protein features of HLA genes and gene products. These resources are integral to basic and applied research in immunogenetics.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution