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Handbook of lipid research 8. Lipid second messengers
Biochimie ( 1996) 78, 887-889 0 Sock% frangaise de biochimie et biologie moEculaire / Elsevier, Paris
The following book review was published in Biochimie 4, 292. However, it was mistakenly attributed to AL Lecocq. The actual author was Dr Delepierre. We reprint her book review here and apologize for this mistake.
agnetic ce i Academic Press, 1996,68 1 p
ective, edited by VVSBrey,
This book is presented by the zditor and the publishers of the ./o~-real of Ma,gnetic Resonance as a source of inlrormation believed to represent contributions to the field that are of endless significance. All the contributions are chosen exclusively from the Journal of Magnetic Resonance of which the first iskvI2was produced in 1969. NMR covers a wide area from solid state to imaging \ia high resolution but also chemistry, biology and physics as well as technical developments such as superconducting magnet and computing. For this reason the papers are arranged in chronological order. This has the advantage to give an indication of the way progress has spread from area to area of magnetic resonance. It is also perhaps because journals such as this one exist that cross-fertilization has occurred between various subfields. Thus, gradients which were first developed in imaging are used now in high-resolution liquid spectroscopy, solid state NMR applies multidimensiona! NMR. while magic angle spinning developed for solid state NMR is now used for obtaining high resolution spectra of liquid in small volumes. Of course, the view developed in that book is somehow biased by the fact that not all papers important in NMR are published exclusively in the Journal of Ma,gnetic Resonance. Some important papers have been published in physics reviews. Although a10 the main subjects are covered in the book, it is however surprising that papers on solvent suppression are not reported here. This has been an ever lasting problem for a lot of spectroscopists and it still is. Probably the numerous papers published on the subject and the diversity of the approaches used to treat this problem did not allow to find one amongst all. As the author rightly says: “the book will give readers who have not lived through all this period a fcaeling for how the complex array of art, science, and technology now available has developed, and that it will bring back some pleasant memories to those who began theirs careers early enough to have experienced the vast changes that have taken place in the past quarter century”.
M Delepierre iochemistry and ogy, edited by P Jolles, Birkhtiuser, 1996,449 p
Although lysozyme was discovered by Fleming 70 years ago, and since then has been studied extensively, many aspects of the biol-
ogical role of the different lysozymes are not precisely known. This book reviews the results obtained during the last 10 years and presents lysozyme as a model in several fields: model in enzymology, protein crystallography, molecular biology and genetics, immunology and evolution. It includes 22 contributions related to these various aspects, and also the different families of lysozymes and the pharmacological applications. This book is well documented, and biologists will find the principal information concerning the different lysozymes. Hen egg-white lysozyme, the most documented representative of this widespread family of enzymes is familiar to biologists. An interest of this book is the description of the other members of this family which all display the same enzyme specificity. They are lysozymes from other species: mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates, phages, bacteria, fungi, and plants. The reader will find a good documentation on these other lysozymes. In this respect lysozyme is indeed a very good model enzyme in evolution. Certainly, this book will be useful to the scientists concerned with one or several of the multiple aspects of lysozyme or related enzymes. However, I have a reservation concerning the organization of this volume. I regret that the structural properties are placed after, and not before the enzymatic characteristics. Furthermore, ir, the part concerning lysozyme as a model in enzymology, the experimental aspects are limited to an article on the enzyme specificity, and the catalytic mechanism is discussed only in the theoretical article. In contrast, the catalytic mechanism appears scattered in different other parts, in lysozyme as a model enzyme in crystallography, in proteins and enzymes related to lysozyme family. The article concerning the folding of lysozyme is not at the right place; folding is related rather to the structural properties than to enzymology. There is a difficulty inherent to the realization of a book involving many contributors to achieve a coherent presentation.
J Yon-Kahn essesearch 8. Lipid Secon engers, edited by RM Bell and JH Exton, Plenum Press, New York and London, 1996, &89X 3 16 p
The past three decades have witnessed the emergence of lipids as signaling molecules. Lipid Second Messerqers is focused on the role of lipids, independentlq irom their function as structural components of membranes or as energy stores. This book is the 8th of a series entitled ‘Harzdbook of Lipid Research’ which has already covered various aspects of lipid biochemistry such as fatty acids, fat-soluble vitatrins, phospholipases and mass spectrometry of lipids. The present volume comes as a logical follow-up of the previous books. Although in the early sixties discovery of prostaglandins provided the first example of lipids with kiollogical activities, they were considered as oddities in this biochemlc:l C!XS of molecules in spite of their potent effecrts and variety of actions. in the past 15 years, however, evidence has accumulated that a broad
variety of structurally unrelated other lipids play an important role as mediators in different cellular functions. Such aspects have been addressed in this book. The structure of the book and presentation of topics lead to an unavoidable redundancy of subjects in the different chapters, eg diacylglycerol in chapter 1 is linked to protein kinase C (second chapter); chapter 3 (phosphatidic acid) is connected to lysophosphatidic acid (chapter 8) and ceramide (chapter 5) is associated to sphingosine and related compounds (chapter 6). Although this could have resulted in a negative impact, the texts from authors with different backgrounds and interests turn into a positive outcome, in which the reader emerges with a perspective which differs depending on the authors. The impressive number of references pertaining to each chapter covers the major part of the relevant literature so that the unfamiliar reader will become acquainted to the variety of effects of these molecules (intracellular messaging, paracrine reactions), their broad involvement in cell function (growth, differentiation, apoptosis, kinases of all specificities, etc) as well as in their implications in physio-pathological areas (cardiovascular functions, inflammation, cancer, etc). One can regret the absence a comprehensive chapter, integrating in a horizontal description the role of these molecules in cell responses, startp+g from the immediate-early events (ie few seconds) along with Ca mediated signaling, such as diacylglycerol or polyunsaturated fatty acids, to long-term responses leading to cell growth and differentiation with a versatile role in triggering the complex equilibrium of kinases. Also, missing for a newcomer, although alluded briefly to in the preface, is the dynamic metabolic equilibrium between the different molecular species (phosphatidic acid/lysophosphatidic acid/liberation of arachidonic acid, platelet-activating factor vs its lyso derivative, etc) and structural V.Vmetabolic pools. This aspect explains most of the difficulties in trying to unravel the occurrence/variation of these compounds by direct measurement, Another expanding area which might have deserved a chapter concerns membrane receptors of these derivatives. Cloning of the platelet-activating factor receptor was the first example of a lipid receptor being cloned. The predicted sequence indicated that it is a member of the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors as was also subsequently reporkd for all arachidonic acid metabolitcs receptors SOfar. A puzzling aspect of these latter molecules, concerns the number of isoforms of these receptors resulting from splice variants which explains in part the pleiotropy of there biological effects (eg the EP family, TP receptors, etc). Overall, this book will undoubtedly constitute the basis for an up-to-date review of these lipid-derived mediators and fulfills its ambition of being a timely serious reference guide to biochemists and to anyone with a broad interest for the ro’le of these new signaling molecules in cell biology.
J Maclouf Enzyme Immunoassays. From Concept to Product velopments, edited by SS Deshpande, Chapman & Hall,
New York, 1996, E79,464 p
The first quantitative enzyme immunoassays were independently described by Avrameas and Guilbert, Engvall and Perlmann, and van Weemen and Schuurs in 1971. Since their
development, the enzyme immunoassays have been appliedextensively for diagnosing bacterial, viral, parasitic, autoimmune diseases,etc.Theenzymeimmunoassayshaveprovedtobeapowerful tool in many areas and have been the focus of many reviews, symposia and workshops. However, few books provide practical information for the development of a successful commercial immunodiagnostic product based on enzyme immunoassay technology. SS Deshpande, senior scientist and group leader at Idetek, Inc in Sunnyvale (California) has written a volume of 464 pages with over 75 illustrations and 40 tables covering this topic. This book is very ambitious in its scope, covering both basic and applied principles, it gathers information on all aspect of the enzyme immunoassay process. The reader is taken through all stages of this process, from the initial conceptualization, product design, and manufacture to the introduction of the product to the market. The author analyses in details all the critical phase in the development of a commercially viable immunoassay product including immunogen selection, antibody production processing and purification, reagent formatting and assay development, sample preparation, data processing, product evaluation and clinical or regulatory validation, standardization and commercial manufacture. All these stages are described in this book from a practical viewpoint of a product development process based on enzyme immunoassay. The first part of the book (228 pages) pertains to the basic aspects of the classification, structure, function and production of antibodies, antigen-antibody interaction, general information on protein coupling methods, the properties and characteristics of the most widely used enzymes in enzyme immunoassays, the choice of various solid-phase systems available in the market. It contains an interesting section on signal amplification systems. The focus of this part includes not only polyclonal antibodies but deals also with monoclonal antibodies. In my opinion, the addition of a chapter dealing with the I?ew recombinant antabody technology and on the use of the recombinant antibodies in enzyme immunoassays would have been interesting for the readership. Part two (220 pages) is devoted to the actual product development process. It includes information on the classification and the various formats of enzyme-immunoassays available for product development, reagent formatting, and assay development issues, data processing, standardization, scale up and commercial manufacture of the product. This part is completed by a description of various regulatory requirements, such as evaluation and clinical or regulatory validation of the product, of the importance of good laboratory, and manufacturing (GLP and GMP) pmctices, and of certain international marketing requirements such as the IS0 9800 certification process. The chapters are well written and illustrated. Each chapter has an extensive list of references. The great value of Enzyme lmmunoassays, From Concept To Product Development is that it presents in a single volume an authoritative review of current information on all aspects of this process. It provides an excellent source of reference that should prove useful to scientists and technologists working in the field of immunodiagnostics at all levels, as well as for upper-level undergraduate and graduate
The following book review was published in Biochimie 4, 292. However, it was mistakenly attributed to AL Lecocq. The actual author was Dr Delepierre. We reprint her book review here and apologize for this mistake.
agnetic ce i Academic Press, 1996,68 1 p
ective, edited by VVSBrey,
This book is presented by the zditor and the publishers of the ./o~-real of Ma,gnetic Resonance as a source of inlrormation believed to represent contributions to the field that are of endless significance. All the contributions are chosen exclusively from the Journal of Magnetic Resonance of which the first iskvI2was produced in 1969. NMR covers a wide area from solid state to imaging \ia high resolution but also chemistry, biology and physics as well as technical developments such as superconducting magnet and computing. For this reason the papers are arranged in chronological order. This has the advantage to give an indication of the way progress has spread from area to area of magnetic resonance. It is also perhaps because journals such as this one exist that cross-fertilization has occurred between various subfields. Thus, gradients which were first developed in imaging are used now in high-resolution liquid spectroscopy, solid state NMR applies multidimensiona! NMR. while magic angle spinning developed for solid state NMR is now used for obtaining high resolution spectra of liquid in small volumes. Of course, the view developed in that book is somehow biased by the fact that not all papers important in NMR are published exclusively in the Journal of Ma,gnetic Resonance. Some important papers have been published in physics reviews. Although a10 the main subjects are covered in the book, it is however surprising that papers on solvent suppression are not reported here. This has been an ever lasting problem for a lot of spectroscopists and it still is. Probably the numerous papers published on the subject and the diversity of the approaches used to treat this problem did not allow to find one amongst all. As the author rightly says: “the book will give readers who have not lived through all this period a fcaeling for how the complex array of art, science, and technology now available has developed, and that it will bring back some pleasant memories to those who began theirs careers early enough to have experienced the vast changes that have taken place in the past quarter century”.
M Delepierre iochemistry and ogy, edited by P Jolles, Birkhtiuser, 1996,449 p
Although lysozyme was discovered by Fleming 70 years ago, and since then has been studied extensively, many aspects of the biol-
ogical role of the different lysozymes are not precisely known. This book reviews the results obtained during the last 10 years and presents lysozyme as a model in several fields: model in enzymology, protein crystallography, molecular biology and genetics, immunology and evolution. It includes 22 contributions related to these various aspects, and also the different families of lysozymes and the pharmacological applications. This book is well documented, and biologists will find the principal information concerning the different lysozymes. Hen egg-white lysozyme, the most documented representative of this widespread family of enzymes is familiar to biologists. An interest of this book is the description of the other members of this family which all display the same enzyme specificity. They are lysozymes from other species: mammals, birds, reptiles, invertebrates, phages, bacteria, fungi, and plants. The reader will find a good documentation on these other lysozymes. In this respect lysozyme is indeed a very good model enzyme in evolution. Certainly, this book will be useful to the scientists concerned with one or several of the multiple aspects of lysozyme or related enzymes. However, I have a reservation concerning the organization of this volume. I regret that the structural properties are placed after, and not before the enzymatic characteristics. Furthermore, ir, the part concerning lysozyme as a model in enzymology, the experimental aspects are limited to an article on the enzyme specificity, and the catalytic mechanism is discussed only in the theoretical article. In contrast, the catalytic mechanism appears scattered in different other parts, in lysozyme as a model enzyme in crystallography, in proteins and enzymes related to lysozyme family. The article concerning the folding of lysozyme is not at the right place; folding is related rather to the structural properties than to enzymology. There is a difficulty inherent to the realization of a book involving many contributors to achieve a coherent presentation.
J Yon-Kahn essesearch 8. Lipid Secon engers, edited by RM Bell and JH Exton, Plenum Press, New York and London, 1996, &89X 3 16 p
The past three decades have witnessed the emergence of lipids as signaling molecules. Lipid Second Messerqers is focused on the role of lipids, independentlq irom their function as structural components of membranes or as energy stores. This book is the 8th of a series entitled ‘Harzdbook of Lipid Research’ which has already covered various aspects of lipid biochemistry such as fatty acids, fat-soluble vitatrins, phospholipases and mass spectrometry of lipids. The present volume comes as a logical follow-up of the previous books. Although in the early sixties discovery of prostaglandins provided the first example of lipids with kiollogical activities, they were considered as oddities in this biochemlc:l C!XS of molecules in spite of their potent effecrts and variety of actions. in the past 15 years, however, evidence has accumulated that a broad
variety of structurally unrelated other lipids play an important role as mediators in different cellular functions. Such aspects have been addressed in this book. The structure of the book and presentation of topics lead to an unavoidable redundancy of subjects in the different chapters, eg diacylglycerol in chapter 1 is linked to protein kinase C (second chapter); chapter 3 (phosphatidic acid) is connected to lysophosphatidic acid (chapter 8) and ceramide (chapter 5) is associated to sphingosine and related compounds (chapter 6). Although this could have resulted in a negative impact, the texts from authors with different backgrounds and interests turn into a positive outcome, in which the reader emerges with a perspective which differs depending on the authors. The impressive number of references pertaining to each chapter covers the major part of the relevant literature so that the unfamiliar reader will become acquainted to the variety of effects of these molecules (intracellular messaging, paracrine reactions), their broad involvement in cell function (growth, differentiation, apoptosis, kinases of all specificities, etc) as well as in their implications in physio-pathological areas (cardiovascular functions, inflammation, cancer, etc). One can regret the absence a comprehensive chapter, integrating in a horizontal description the role of these molecules in cell responses, startp+g from the immediate-early events (ie few seconds) along with Ca mediated signaling, such as diacylglycerol or polyunsaturated fatty acids, to long-term responses leading to cell growth and differentiation with a versatile role in triggering the complex equilibrium of kinases. Also, missing for a newcomer, although alluded briefly to in the preface, is the dynamic metabolic equilibrium between the different molecular species (phosphatidic acid/lysophosphatidic acid/liberation of arachidonic acid, platelet-activating factor vs its lyso derivative, etc) and structural V.Vmetabolic pools. This aspect explains most of the difficulties in trying to unravel the occurrence/variation of these compounds by direct measurement, Another expanding area which might have deserved a chapter concerns membrane receptors of these derivatives. Cloning of the platelet-activating factor receptor was the first example of a lipid receptor being cloned. The predicted sequence indicated that it is a member of the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors as was also subsequently reporkd for all arachidonic acid metabolitcs receptors SOfar. A puzzling aspect of these latter molecules, concerns the number of isoforms of these receptors resulting from splice variants which explains in part the pleiotropy of there biological effects (eg the EP family, TP receptors, etc). Overall, this book will undoubtedly constitute the basis for an up-to-date review of these lipid-derived mediators and fulfills its ambition of being a timely serious reference guide to biochemists and to anyone with a broad interest for the ro’le of these new signaling molecules in cell biology.
J Maclouf Enzyme Immunoassays. From Concept to Product velopments, edited by SS Deshpande, Chapman & Hall,
New York, 1996, E79,464 p
The first quantitative enzyme immunoassays were independently described by Avrameas and Guilbert, Engvall and Perlmann, and van Weemen and Schuurs in 1971. Since their
development, the enzyme immunoassays have been appliedextensively for diagnosing bacterial, viral, parasitic, autoimmune diseases,etc.Theenzymeimmunoassayshaveprovedtobeapowerful tool in many areas and have been the focus of many reviews, symposia and workshops. However, few books provide practical information for the development of a successful commercial immunodiagnostic product based on enzyme immunoassay technology. SS Deshpande, senior scientist and group leader at Idetek, Inc in Sunnyvale (California) has written a volume of 464 pages with over 75 illustrations and 40 tables covering this topic. This book is very ambitious in its scope, covering both basic and applied principles, it gathers information on all aspect of the enzyme immunoassay process. The reader is taken through all stages of this process, from the initial conceptualization, product design, and manufacture to the introduction of the product to the market. The author analyses in details all the critical phase in the development of a commercially viable immunoassay product including immunogen selection, antibody production processing and purification, reagent formatting and assay development, sample preparation, data processing, product evaluation and clinical or regulatory validation, standardization and commercial manufacture. All these stages are described in this book from a practical viewpoint of a product development process based on enzyme immunoassay. The first part of the book (228 pages) pertains to the basic aspects of the classification, structure, function and production of antibodies, antigen-antibody interaction, general information on protein coupling methods, the properties and characteristics of the most widely used enzymes in enzyme immunoassays, the choice of various solid-phase systems available in the market. It contains an interesting section on signal amplification systems. The focus of this part includes not only polyclonal antibodies but deals also with monoclonal antibodies. In my opinion, the addition of a chapter dealing with the I?ew recombinant antabody technology and on the use of the recombinant antibodies in enzyme immunoassays would have been interesting for the readership. Part two (220 pages) is devoted to the actual product development process. It includes information on the classification and the various formats of enzyme-immunoassays available for product development, reagent formatting, and assay development issues, data processing, standardization, scale up and commercial manufacture of the product. This part is completed by a description of various regulatory requirements, such as evaluation and clinical or regulatory validation of the product, of the importance of good laboratory, and manufacturing (GLP and GMP) pmctices, and of certain international marketing requirements such as the IS0 9800 certification process. The chapters are well written and illustrated. Each chapter has an extensive list of references. The great value of Enzyme lmmunoassays, From Concept To Product Development is that it presents in a single volume an authoritative review of current information on all aspects of this process. It provides an excellent source of reference that should prove useful to scientists and technologists working in the field of immunodiagnostics at all levels, as well as for upper-level undergraduate and graduate