Principles of Molecular Pathology
Killeen AA. Principles of Molecular Pathology. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2003, 344 pp, $120.
"Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things." —Virgil, 70-19 BC
For a surgical practicing pathologist like myself, born before the 1970s, the book Principles of Molecular Pathology is an illuminating guide to understanding the powerful tools of molecular biology and how these tools can be used in the practice of pathology.
When I started to extract RNA from tissue a few years ago, a colleague told me that molecular biology is not like cooking. We do not see any of the materials during the process, but, at the end, the tangible results are there, striking, having appeared from an invisible world. I found myself confronted with a poignant contradiction: I had chosen pathology as my career because the disease was visible; and with a lot of confidence (if not happiness) I could, in most cases, live with a peaceful mind even in the face of having made a dreadful diagnosis. The microscopic features of diseases were the symptoms and signs of a patient's disease leading to a well-defined diagnosis. Nowadays, those signature features can be invisible—molecular. Cancer can be characterized and is beginning to be understood at the molecular level. The transition from cellular to molecular in the pathologist's practice was needed. Principles of Molecular Pathology clearly testifies for the first time to the values and broad applications of molecular pathology in medicine.
The book of fewer than 350 pages is so well written that a less molecularly oriented pathologist can read the entire text within only 30 hours. The book is small (half an A4 format) and compact with a font and an overall layout of text and essential schematics that make it a pleasure to peruse. One of its best features is an extremely lucid text, without repetition. The text covers topics chosen to provide a broad overview of the subject. Concise basic concepts of molecular biology and genetics are followed by an accurate description of the most commonly and currently used analytic methods. One chapter explains the acquired genetic abnormalities that underlie inherited disorders. Two essential chapters describe, masterfully, the important genetic determinants of human malignancies, acquired and hereditary. These 2 chapters are beautifully crafted and provide the reader with lasting enlightenment. One entire chapter is dedicated to the molecular understanding of myeloid and lymphoid malignancies, which reads like a police novel by pathologists who excel in the morphologic and immunologic diagnosis of hematologic disorders. Chapters on pharmacogenetics and identity testing emphasize the current importance and futuristic implications of these areas in clinical practice. Finally, the current application of molecular methods is described in the detection of a few major bacterial and viral infections.
This is a wonderful and unique book that should be purchased by a wide readership, including residents and fellows in laboratory medicine and pathology, practicing pathologists desiring to easily understand the current transition of their practice, and specialized research pathologists interested in broadening their general knowledge in the powerful tool of molecular pathology.
Killeen AA. Principles of Molecular Pathology. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2003, 344 pp, $120.
"Happy is he who gets to know the reasons for things." —Virgil, 70-19 BC
For a surgical practicing pathologist like myself, born before the 1970s, the book Principles of Molecular Pathology is an illuminating guide to understanding the powerful tools of molecular biology and how these tools can be used in the practice of pathology.
When I started to extract RNA from tissue a few years ago, a colleague told me that molecular biology is not like cooking. We do not see any of the materials during the process, but, at the end, the tangible results are there, striking, having appeared from an invisible world. I found myself confronted with a poignant contradiction: I had chosen pathology as my career because the disease was visible; and with a lot of confidence (if not happiness) I could, in most cases, live with a peaceful mind even in the face of having made a dreadful diagnosis. The microscopic features of diseases were the symptoms and signs of a patient's disease leading to a well-defined diagnosis. Nowadays, those signature features can be invisible—molecular. Cancer can be characterized and is beginning to be understood at the molecular level. The transition from cellular to molecular in the pathologist's practice was needed. Principles of Molecular Pathology clearly testifies for the first time to the values and broad applications of molecular pathology in medicine.
The book of fewer than 350 pages is so well written that a less molecularly oriented pathologist can read the entire text within only 30 hours. The book is small (half an A4 format) and compact with a font and an overall layout of text and essential schematics that make it a pleasure to peruse. One of its best features is an extremely lucid text, without repetition. The text covers topics chosen to provide a broad overview of the subject. Concise basic concepts of molecular biology and genetics are followed by an accurate description of the most commonly and currently used analytic methods. One chapter explains the acquired genetic abnormalities that underlie inherited disorders. Two essential chapters describe, masterfully, the important genetic determinants of human malignancies, acquired and hereditary. These 2 chapters are beautifully crafted and provide the reader with lasting enlightenment. One entire chapter is dedicated to the molecular understanding of myeloid and lymphoid malignancies, which reads like a police novel by pathologists who excel in the morphologic and immunologic diagnosis of hematologic disorders. Chapters on pharmacogenetics and identity testing emphasize the current importance and futuristic implications of these areas in clinical practice. Finally, the current application of molecular methods is described in the detection of a few major bacterial and viral infections.
This is a wonderful and unique book that should be purchased by a wide readership, including residents and fellows in laboratory medicine and pathology, practicing pathologists desiring to easily understand the current transition of their practice, and specialized research pathologists interested in broadening their general knowledge in the powerful tool of molecular pathology.
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