Signal Transduction Applied

Signal Transduction Applied Edited by Toren Finkel, J. Silvio Gutkind Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience, (2003). 488 pp. $99.95In earlier years, signal transduction research focused on identifying molecules and pathways. This approach did not always lead easily to understanding the function of a pathway in an intact organism. Although there are certainly signal transduction pathways still to be revealed, the discovery phase has given way to an increased emphasis on the function of signal transduction pathways in intact organisms. Insight into the relevance of signal transduction pathways has often come from studies of larger biologic problems, such as development or the function of the immune system and has been advanced enormously by gene deletion technology. Currently, much of the exciting research in signal transduction involves understanding the roles of particular pathways in disease. Based on this work, new drug targets are being evaluated and it is hoped that understanding the molecular basis of disease will also lead to new strategies for prevention and diagnosis. The publication of Signal Transduction and Human Disease, edited by Toren Finkel and J. Silvio Gutkind, signals a degree of maturity in the field: there is now a textbook.Finkel and Gutkind set themselves the goal of describing in one text the clinical and basic science aspects of a number of human diseases. Like a medical textbook, the chapters are arranged by disease areas. There are chapters on atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, endocrinology (diabetes and diseases involving heterotrimeric G proteins), infectious disease (bacterial regulation of actin and bacterial toxins and diarrhea), immunology (severe combined immunodeficiency and mast cell diseases), rheumatology, neurology, psychiatry, and a final chapter on rational drug design. They and their contributors do not intend to be comprehensive; only a few diseases are covered and not all of the signaling pathways involved in the diseases described are addressed.The chapters are vignettes that document the progress that has been made in understanding the roles of signal transduction pathways in disease and explain the role of several signal transduction pathways in particular diseases. The amount of background and level of detail is appropriate for a textbook; the pathways and their regulation are well explained and there are helpful tables and illustrations. The information is current and is well referenced with both primary sources and reviews. It would be helpful to list the review articles in a separate reference section so that they could be easily identified. Readers of this text are more likely to look to review articles than primary sources for additional information. There is always a difficult balance in a multiauthored book between repetition and providing a self-contained account in each chapter. Although there is some repetition in the book (GTPases, tyrosine kinases, and MAP kinases, for example, are covered in several chapters), for the most part it is kept to a minimum.Because of its diversity, there is no single group for whom the book will serve as a primary reference. It could be used in a graduate level course on signal transduction. Most of the important components of signal transduction are covered and the clinical context provided is helpful in understanding the importance of the pathways. For example, the chapter on atherosclerosis emphasizes reactive oxygen and nitric oxide signaling and the chapter on asthma focuses on the NFκB pathway. The chapters would provide an excellent introduction to these pathways.The book would also be a good starting point for basic scientists or clinicians interested in any of the diseases covered. Since just a few pathways are emphasized in each chapter, other sources would also need to be consulted for a more comprehensive view. The editors intended for most of the chapters to contain a section describing the clinical aspects of the disease, to serve as a context for the signaling pathways discussed. Only about one-half of the book's chapters provide clinical background, however, and although it would add to the length of the book, more extensive coverage of the clinical aspects of the diseases discussed would be helpful to stress why study of these pathways is important from a clinical perspective.Because of the roles signal transduction pathways play in the development of disease and the emphasis on developing drugs that target signaling enzymes, the interface between signal transduction and disease is flourishing. It is now such a broad and complicated field that no single book could hope to encompass it, but Finkel, Gutkind, and their coauthors have put together examples that illustrate the growing depth of understanding the roles of signal transduction in disease and how this knowledge will impact diagnosis and treatment.