| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Boros, D. L. (ed.). Granulomatous Infections and Inflammations: Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms, 1st ed. 330 pp. American Society for Microbiology Press, Washington, DC, 2003. $105.95. ISBN 1-55581-260-0.
Granulomatous syndromes occur in a wide variety of diseases with bacterial, fungal, protozoan, viral, helminthic, metallic, and unknown etiologies. The literature concerning these conditions is widely dispersed and fragmented. Therefore, periodic summaries of the current knowledge in this field are warranted. This book presents a relatively up-to-date (through mid-2002) summary of the current knowledge on a number of experimental and clinical granulomatoses observed in man. The book has 21 contributors, many of whom are leaders in their field, and is arranged in 11 chapters authored by the various contributors. The first three chapters provide concise and detailed reviews of the major aspects of the granulomatous response, including a detailed review of the complex balance of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators that contribute to the development and maintenance of the granuloma. The remaining eight chapters provide an in-depth discussion of the known cellular and molecular mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of granulomatous disease in several selected syndromes including cryptococcosis, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, leprosy, berylliosis, sarcoidosis, and Crohn's disease. There was no intent by the authors to include in the book all the existing human granulomatous diseases, but the intent was to present examples of prototypic models and diseases and to describe the complex balance of events in the formation and maintenance of the granulomatous process.
Contents: 1. The Cellular Immunological Aspects of the Granulomatous Response. 2. Cytokines and Chemokines in Granulomatous Inflammation. 3. Granuloma Formation in Mouse and Guinea Pig Models of Experimental Tuberculosis. 4. Cryptococcosis. 5. Murine Leishmaniasis. 6. Murine Schistosomiasis. 7. Human Tuberculosis. 8. Human Leprosy. 9. Human Berylliosis. 10. Sarcoidosis. 11. Crohn's Disease.
The intended audiences for this book are the researchers and clinicians who investigate and treat various human granulomatous syndromes. Although the book is heavily oriented toward human syndromes, it provides up-to-date information on the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with various granulomatous conditions that cross species barriers and would be useful to most veterinary pathologists but particularly to those working with diseases associated with granulomatous inflammation or developing animal models for human granulomatous diseases. The book is very concise and readable. It has only a modest number of photomicrographs, flow diagrams, charts, and tables. The diagrams, charts, and tables are very clear and provide useful data. The photomicrographs demonstrate significant features of the disease syndrome, but the printing essentially consists of medium- to low-quality photocopies of the original photomicrographs. The printing quality and small photo size make some of the images difficult to evaluate. In general, the chapters are well referenced, with more than 100 references listed per chapter. The index is well done and provides a good, relatively detailed cross-reference.
The first three chapters concerning the development and maintenance of granulomatous inflammation are exceptionally well done. With the exception of the Crohn's disease section (Chapter 11), the remaining sections on specific conditions are also excellent reviews of the current knowledge. Unfortunately, the chapter on Crohn's disease is incomplete because it essentially rules out the potential involvement of a myocbacterial etiology and minimizes a significant and growing body of research related to a mycobacterial cause (Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis) for a subset of Crohn's disease cases. I find this unusual because in the last 4 years, at least four prominent committees sanctioned by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, European Commission on Animal Health and Welfare, United Kingdom Food Standards Agency, and National Academies of Science have reviewed the literature and found insufficient data to confirm or deny a possible mycobacterial etiology for Crohn's disease. In addition, there is no mention of the long-term remissions and drastic improvement of clinical signs reported in recent studies where combined anti-mycobacterial antibiotic therapy alone was used in the treatment of Crohn's disease.
There are very few books available that are devoted to up-to-date reviews of granulomatous syndromes in man or animals, although a number of books and articles contain fragments of this information. I am not aware that such a text exists that focuses primarily on up-to-date reviews of granulomatous conditions in animals. However, I am aware of one other fairly recent book that reviews a larger number of human syndromes associated with granulomatous disease, but unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to review the entire text (James, Geraint and Zumla, Alimuddin (eds.). The Granulomatous Disorders. 616 pp. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1999. $240.00. ISBN 0-521-59221-6).
Despite the few deficiencies mentioned above, the book is accurate, concise, and well done. This text is an excellent addition to the library of both human and veterinary pathologists and researchers who are interested in the pathogenesis of disease conditions associated with granulomatous inflammation.
Tifton Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Laboratory
College of Veterinary Medicine
The University of Georgia
Tifton, GA
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
