activatory, for human major histocompatibil-ity complex HLA and non-HLA molecules arebeing identified and cloned in NK cells. Re-garding the ontogeny of NK cells, the readerdoes not come out with a clear-cut idea, butthis is certainly not the authorÕs fault.

Some issues could have been consideredin greater depth, for example: (1) themolecular content of NK/cytotoxic T lym-phocyte (CTL) granules (i.e. perforin,granzymes) and their role in target-cellkilling (apoptosis versus necrosis); (2) therole of peptides in the context of HLA classI molecules expressed by target cells and, inparticular, the existence of peptides that caninterfere with killer-cell inhibitory receptor(KIR) class I interactions; (3) the functionalmeaning of HLA-G molecules Ð these mol-ecules are the sole class I antigens expressedby trophoblast cells following endometrialimplantation, where a subset of NK cells isrecruited; and (4) in spite of an extensive article on NK cell expression of adhesionmolecule, there is not yet an explanation ofthe trafficking and homing of these lympho-cytes. Why do they preferentially accumu-late in the spleen red pulp and marginalzone, but not in lymph nodes? Are they un-able to recognize high endothelial venule(HEV) endothelium? So far, these questionsremain unanswered.

However, nobody is perfect and thisbook remains a very good gathering of newinformation in a monographic form. Thisbook can be recommended to immunologyresearchers and PhD students, but a word ofwarning: buy this book as soon as possible,since it will soon be outdated.

Ermanno CicconeNational Institute for Cancer Research andDept of Experimental Medicine, Institute ofHuman Anatomy, Genova, Italy.

A perennial problem we face when we re-view our immunology undergraduate lec-

ture course is deciding in which order weshould schedule each block of lectures.Should lymphoid architecture and lympho-cyte recirculation come first or should westart with adhesion molecules, antigen re-ceptors, activation molecules and intracellu-lar signalling, cytokines, homing receptors,or the cells of the haematopoietic system?The simple answer is that there is no idealsequence of lectures and that there are al-ways concepts that are best understood inthe light of details scheduled later in thecourse.

The same is true of a textbook wherethere is a sequence of chapters, although areader might be inclined to flick backwardsand forwards between pages. However, asdemonstrated in this CD-ROM, by follow-ing ideas familiar to players of interactivecomputer adventure games, it is possible todesign an immunology guide in which theuser decides in which order to review the information.

The authors have broken the subject ofimmunology down into 15 main topics butthey have linked these topics together inseveral different ways. First, they havecross-indexed in a conventional manner thekey immunological terms that are describedat different levels in the various sections.These terms can be found in an alphabeticallisting or by using direct links between top-ics. The CD-ROM also uses another navi-gation system, called the ÔNavihedronÕ. Thisis a 15-sided polyhedron with the major top-ics arranged around the faces of the object.The Navihedron rotates in a window, allow-ing the user to link between related conceptsand call up animations and information infurther windows on screen. Thus the usercan delve into detailed illustrations on eachtopic and, as well as being able to stop andreplay them, can select whether to have ad-ditional subtitles and audio information,look at extra diagrams and molecular mod-els, or try out the topic-related multiple-choice questions in the self-assessmentmodules. As I have found, it is possible tospend many hours using this software andstill find new topics or concepts to explore.The basic information will be very useful forintroductory immunology teaching, pro-gressing up to a level suitable for pre-clinical students when combined with the

additional textual information and self-assessment exercises. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to studentsinterested in immunology.

On the negative side, I did encountersome problems in installing the software.When I succeeded, I discovered that it runsappallingly slowly on my computer, whichhas a 486DX4 100 MHz processor and a dou-ble speed CD-ROM drive, but I was veryimpressed after I re-installed the softwareon a new NT workstation. Apparently, forcommercial reasons, the publishers decidedto release the software only in a single for-mat suitable for Windows 95, despite thefact that much of the material was producedusing MacOS computer systems! Sadly thismeans that many biological scientists andstudents, who seem to show a preference forMacOS computers, will not be able to makeuse of this software. In consolation, the orig-inal version 1 Immunology CD-ROM is stillavailable and is multisystem compatible!

Mike ClarkDivision of Immunology, Cambridge University, Dept of Pathology, Tennis Court Rd, Cambridge, UK CB2 1QP.

C O M M E N TI M M U N O L O G Y TO D AY

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J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 9

Immunology Interactive 2.0 CD-ROM by D. Male, J. Brostoff, D. Gray and I. Roitt, Mosby International, 1998. £52.95 + VAT/$69.95ISBN 0 7234 2997 9

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