Abstract
This readable and generally interesting book nicely complements the few existing volumes that address the “embryonic” field of toxicogenomics, such as those by Burczynski, Causton et al., and Hamadeh and Afshari. 1 –3 Author: This article has been lightly edited for grammar, style, and usage. Please compare it with your original document and make corrections on these pages. Please limit your corrections to substantive changes that affect meaning. If no change is required in response to a question, please write “OK as set” in the margin. Copy editor It is well structured, and passesEditor: change from “passing” to “and passes” OK? copy editor systematically through the arcane, but important, methodological details of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabonomics, and bioinformatics. Experimental design and data analysis are well considered, while data-interpretation issues are somewhat poorly addressed, as is typical of this field at this time. An excellent chapter on “systems biology” essentially divides the volume in two, and precedes a series of interesting examples of the application of toxicogenomics to a range of important issues, including drug metabolism, renal and cardiac toxicity, embryonic development, and cancer. The book is completed by a number of descriptions of ongoing efforts to develop toxicogenomics programs across the world, and in conclusion, regulatory and ethical concerns are nicely addressed in the final chapter. This book appears to be intended for toxicologists, toxicologic pathologists, and other risk-assessment professionals in the environmental and pharmaceutical arenas. For those interested in infectious disease, this book would be a disappointment. However, it does contain all the information needed to introduce the reader to potential applications of the new “-omics” technologies to a wide range of pathophysiologic investigations in diverse experimental systems. Most of the chapters are well written, the references are adequate and appropriate, and there are some excellent illustrations throughout. As an edited book, the style is mixed and somewhat repetitious on general issues such as expression array technology. Some minor errors are present and the index is disappointing, as many chemicals and other important items addressed in the text are not listed, and would thus be overlooked by the casual reader. However, I would like to note that overall the editor has done an excellent job. I highly recommend this book to the veterinary pathology community as it is one of very few volumes that provide an overview of a field that will increasingly impact us in our daily work, and to which pathologists have a great deal to contribute.