Springer Anti-Idiotypic Vaccines: 3 (Progress in Vaccinology, 3)

With Anti-Idiotypic Vaccines, the third volume in the new series "Progress in Vaccinology", Pierre-André Cazenave has assembled ten invited critical reviews by leading researchers in the fields of immunology and vaccinology. Since the network hypothesis was first elaborated by Niels Jerne, the concept of internal images and idiotype has stimulated considerable research and discussion, in particular the design of more efficient vaccination methods than traditional procedures provide. In this volume both fundamental aspects and practical applications of idiotype for vaccines are considered. Anti-Idiotypic Vaccines first establishes a conceptual framework, then considers animal models for specific idiotypic reagents, including their role as potential tumor and viral vaccines. Other topics in- clude: relevance of idiotypic vaccines to carbohydrate antigens; implications of human VH gene family polymorphism for idiotype; novel approaches to immunoprophylaxis against parasites; and structural and functional manipulation of anti-idiotypes by antibody engineering. This book will be valuable to professional immunologists and vaccinologists, as well as to other molecular and cell biologists studying the immune system.