In about 5% of all organ (kidney, liver) transplant recipients, malignancies occur as a late complication of the massive immunosuppression. The malignancies are mainly skin cancers, lymphomas and renal carcinomas. The present book discusses the possible mechanisms of this type of tumorigenesis and inquires into possibilities of prevention. In particular, the described malignancies might be of viral origin. The book informs about a completely new type of carcinogenesis. Apart from the scientific aspects, it is of great practical value.

There is a great deal of experimental work leading to the conclusion that immuno- suppression of any kind increases susceptibility to clinical or viral carcinogenesis. Human epidemiology had already given some intimation of the abnormally high incidence of neoplasms in persons suffering from immunologic insufficiency. The first statistics on the incidence of cancer in organ transplant recipients tend to support this thesis. Transplantation can favor metastasis in a recipient who already has a malignancy; similarly, it can encourage the development of tumor cells which may be present in an...