Edited by Nagy A. Habib, 302 pp, with illus, Totowa, NJ, Humana Press, 2000.Hepatocellular carcinoma has become one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. The primary reason for this dramatic increase is the widespread incidence of hepatitis B and C virus infection. It is accepted that patients with cirrhosis due to hepatitis C virus have a 10% incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma after 20 years.In the United States alone there are more than 3 million cases of chronic hepatitis C virus infection, which has made it a very important public health problem. It is not surprising, then, that the subject of hepatocellular carcinoma has attracted the attention of investigators, leading to significant advances, especially in our understanding of the pathophysiology of this malignancy.The bulk of methodological innovations has centered on molecular pathology. It is in this regard that the book Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Methods and Protocols, edited by Nagy A. Habib, is a welcome addition to the field. This 302-page book is divided into 5 parts, written by 50 authors.Part I deals with the clinical problem of hepatocellular carcinoma and its medical management. All modalities of the medical therapeutic approach are discussed, with careful description of the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The methods include liver resection, transplantation, arterial chemoembolization, percutaneous ethanol injection, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, thermotherapy, and combination therapy.Part II deals with carcinogenesis, the role of the NS3 protein of hepatitis C virus, the role of p53 tumor suppressor, and the significance of liver cell dysplasia. Part III describes the molecular and biological characteristics of the hepatitis B and C viruses, the various markers of hepatocellular carcinoma, and the expression of p53, p21, and Rb proteins in hepatocellular carcinoma.Part IV is divided into 8 chapters dealing with the new and exciting field of gene therapy; it includes a chapter on vectors harboring alfaprotein regulatory sequences, construction of adenovirus vectors, p53 plasmid preparation, tumor vaccines, and immunoglobulin fusion proteins. Part V contains a clinical protocol for p53 gene therapy for liver tumors.This book contains complete descriptions of methods and provides ample references. The language is technical and clearly written.This book should be of interest to pathologists and clinical hepatologists, as well as basic scientists working in research of hepatic carcinogenesis, who will find this book a solid contribution to their libraries.