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Steroid Receptors arid Disease: Cancer, Autoimmune, Bone and Circulatory Disorders

edited by P. J. Sheridan, K. Blum and M. C. Trachtenberg, Marcel Dekker, 1938. US$Z25.00 in USA and Canada (US$l50.00 elsewhere) (xvi + 580 pages) ZSBN 0 8247 7954 1

This book presents a comprehen- sive look at the three main areas of advance in steroid hormone research that have taken place over the past ten years: mechanism of action, receptor structure and diversity of receptor-mediated responses. The book consists of 22 chapters arranged into four parts.

Part 1 addresses the mechanism of steroid action and includes chapters by Go&i, Ruh, Sheridan and Walters. These chapters emphasize newly appreciated aspects of receptor function. The older models of cytoplasmic- nuclear translocation are no longer regarded as a general phenom- enon, a nuclear localization of unoccupied estrogen and proges- terone receptors e3ntrasting with the apparent cytoplasmic locali- zation of glucocorticoid and other unoccupied steroid receptors. Receptors are postulated to be in

equilibrium between the cytosolic (where they are synthesized) and the nuclear compartments (where they function).

In Part 2, Cidlowski, Edwards, Chambon, Gustafsson and John- son address the structure-function properties of steroid receptor proteins. This is one of the more valuable sections of the book and it provides the reader with an in- depth progress report (the most recent reference was published in 1987) on glucocorticoid, proges- terone, estrogen and androgen receptor structure. It includes descriptions of receptor domains and the mechanism of receptor- DNA interactions mediated by Zn2+ ‘fingers’. Notable by their absence, however, are descrip- tions of steroid receptor-related nuclear transfer signals [see Wolff, B. et al. (1987) TiPS 8, 119-1201.

The final two parts deal with the localization of steroid hormones in ‘non-classical’ target tissues. These sections draw from a large and varied literature base not previ- ously considered in one volume. Stumpf and Weaker review the classical literature, focusing on autoradiographic localization studies of steroid hormone recep- tors. These chapters are followed by discussions of steroid function in the immune system, in bone,

TiPS -March 1989 [Vol. 201

prostate, pituitary and muscle, breast and prostate cancers, brain tumors and, finally, cardiovascular physiology. This is an attempt to cover an impossibly large area and consequently a number of omis- sions are apparent, e.g. the poten- tial role of steroid receptors in steroid carcinogenicity; and hepa- tic estrogen receptors and re- sponse, as implicated in the side- effects of oral contraceptives.

This is a very worthwhile book which has attempted to bring together many aspects of steroid hormone research. However, the scope is too broad to allow it to be considered an in-depth, compre- hensive reference. Perhaps future volumes by the same editors could remedy this with additional chap- ters covering areas of this large field of study in more detail. Nevertheless, the diversity of con- tent in this book should appeal to a wide spectrum of readers by pro- viding an overview of the varied roles of steroid hormones in disease.

ROBERT CLARKE

AND ROBERT B. DICKSON

Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Research Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, 3800 Reservoir Road NW, Washington DC 20007, USA.