Transplantation Biology

From The Critics

Reviewer: John A. Robinson, MD(Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine)
Description: This new book focuses on transplant biology with perspectives from multiple biomedical disciplines. There is little definitive clinical transplantation in it, but plenty of nuggets to be mined from the basic biology text. The authors are a cosmopolitan mix of transplantologists, a group that is tangible proof of the cross-fertilization between basic and clinical disciplines that has existed in transplantation from the beginning and is the central reason for its astounding rate of progress.
Purpose: Most of the chapters are extremely well written, and the decision to start with the basic underpinnings of molecular biology and its methodology was a wise one. The section on methodology and technology is extremely helpful for those readers who, in the distant past, had trouble understanding the mechanics of fluorescence microscopy. They will find the even more esoteric mechanics of flow-cytometry presented in a lucid manner and easy-to-read style. The candor of several authors (usually European) is also quite refreshing, especially in one instance where the reader is warned not to believe instrumentation sales people!
Audience: The book is intended for transplant immunologists and physicians.
Features: I have only minor difficulties with this book. The sequence of chapters seems to be a bit unusual in several sections; however, in the second edition, I suspect this will be corrected. There is the somewhat unusual need for the reader to be persistent: for example, the chapter on natural antibodies pays only minor attention to anti-gal antibodies as a major problem in xenotransplantation, but lo-and-behold, 18 chapters later an excellent discussion of this dilemma appears in the xenotransplantation chapter. Likewise, there is an entire chapter on the immunology of transplant arteriosclerosis with very little mention of what could be the central focus of this phenomenon, CMV; yet two chapters later the reader is rewarded with an excellent discussion of CMV and its possible etiological role(s) in the dominant clinical problem in organ transplantation.
Assessment: This book is highly recommended to all those interested in transplantation. It will be especially helpful for transplant clinicians who seek the fundamentals in the rapidly expanding scientific basis of patient versus graft, be it allo or xeno.

John A. Robinson

This new book focuses on transplant biology with perspectives from multiple biomedical disciplines. There is little definitive clinical transplantation in it, but plenty of nuggets to be mined from the basic biology text. The authors are a cosmopolitan mix of transplantologists, a group that is tangible proof of the cross-fertilization between basic and clinical disciplines that has existed in transplantation from the beginning and is the central reason for its astounding rate of progress. Most of the chapters are extremely well written, and the decision to start with the basic underpinnings of molecular biology and its methodology was a wise one. The section on methodology and technology is extremely helpful for those readers who, in the distant past, had trouble understanding the mechanics of fluorescence microscopy. They will find the even more esoteric mechanics of flow-cytometry presented in a lucid manner and easy-to-read style. The candor of several authors (usually European) is also quite refreshing, especially in one instance where the reader is warned not to believe instrumentation sales people! The book is intended for transplant immunologists and physicians. I have only minor difficulties with this book. The sequence of chapters seems to be a bit unusual in several sections; however, in the second edition, I suspect this will be corrected. There is the somewhat unusual need for the reader to be persistent: for example, the chapter on natural antibodies pays only minor attention to anti-gal antibodies as a major problem in xenotransplantation, but lo-and-behold, 18 chapters later an excellent discussion of this dilemma appears in the xenotransplantation chapter.Likewise, there is an entire chapter on the immunology of transplant arteriosclerosis with very little mention of what could be the central focus of this phenomenon, CMV; yet two chapters later the reader is rewarded with an excellent discussion of CMV and its possible etiological role(s) in the dominant clinical problem in organ transplantation. This book is highly recommended to all those interested in transplantation. It will be especially helpful for transplant clinicians who seek the fundamentals in the rapidly expanding scientific basis of patient versus graft, be it allo or xeno.

3 Stars from Doody