Commotion in the Blood: Life, Death and the Immune System Book

This was a very lengthy tome, redundant I know, about the history of immunology, who the scientists of note were and where we are with immunotherapy and fighting cancer and disease as of 1997, which was the publication date of this book. Fast forward almost 20 years and I'm sure there have been advances and setbacks as this book recounts. I thoroughly enjoyed the history-it was laid out very well even for laymen. I took notes as I do with all my medical and history readings and appreciated learning about the early pioneers in the field along with the egocentric scientists and competition in the field at large. Medicine is a mix of art and science and this book makes the case. It is no different from other fields of discovery-with your combination of egos, government regulators, biotech companies, pharma, cancer institutes, etal - the human condition at play as I often repeat myself.

I learned about Coley's toxins, interferon, interleukin 2 and 12, T cells, B cells, factors, killer cells, TNF,lab mice, and more. The anecdotes and stories of real life cancer patients were key to really grasping experimental clinical trials as it were. My favorites were Dr. William B Coley and patient "Frau H" -truly remarkable.

I may have to find out if there's a follow-up book or where we are now in 2015 with immunotherapy.