Handbook of Copper Pharmacology and Toxicology. Edward J. Massaro, ed. Humana Press; Totowa, New Jersey, 2002.
This handbook is more than a “handbook” in the literal sense. It is a comprehensive and detailed review of copper biochemistry and toxicology, molecular pathogenesis of disease of copper metabolism, and copper's role in certain diseases. The editor, Dr. Edward Massaro, from the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory in North Carolina, has compiled a panel of 91 national and international scientists and clinicians who have contributed to the book. Although copper is usually not thought of in a clinician's everyday practice of medicine, I gained a much better appreciation of its pivotal role in cell physiology and the pathophysiology of its toxicity after reading this book.
The book begins with a very extensive four‐page Preface by the editor, which provides a nice succinct review of copper physiology and biochemistry and several disease states that are result of a disruption of copper homeostasis. The book is divided into six major sections: Copper in Mammals, Copper Proteins, Copper Transport, Molecular Pathogenesis of Diseases of Copper Metabolism, Copper Toxicity Therapeutics, and Copper Metabolism and Homeostasis. Although there is some duplication and overlap of material in many of the sections, the reader can probably understand pertinent information by reading the separate sections exclusive of the other sections. There are numerous black and white figures throughout the book that demonstrate copper's role in cellular function, homeostasis in the body, and pathophysiology of disease states as well as photographs of DNA sequencing of copper‐binding proteins, gels, and three‐dimensional images of relevant copper‐related cellular functions. There are also beautiful three‐dimensional color stereoviews of copper's active sites in the cell during redox reactions. Many of the tables present data of DNA sequencing that would only be of relevance to molecular geneticists and biologists.
In Section IV, Molecular Pathogenesis of Diseases of Copper Metabolism, there are eight separate chapters that discuss the role of copper in the pathogenesis of Menkes disease, a copper‐deficiency disorder, Parkinson's disease, Familial Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer's disease, and Non‐Indian Childhood Cirrhosis.
Section V contains six chapters on Copper Toxicity and Therapeutics, of which one is devoted to Wilson's disease, a copper toxicosis condition, and certain types of cancer. Although the focus of many of these chapters on copper diseases is on the molecular genetics, there is relevant clinical information presented. Specifically with regards to Wilson’s disease, there is a detailed discussion and many helpful tables which outline clinical characteristics of the disease, screening and diagnostic tests, available anticopper drug therapies, and recommended treatment monitoring. There is a table that lists the available drugs for anticopper therapy—zinc, trientine, tetrathiomolybdate, and d‐penicillamine—and lists mechanisms of action, recommended use, advantages, disadvantages, and toxicity as well as a table which outlines recommended anticopper therapies according to the status of copper‐overload disease. This single chapter would be of most interest to the medical toxicologist.
The Handbook of Copper Pharmacology and Toxicology is not a book that every medical toxicologist must read cover to cover, but it does contain the most comprehensive discussion of copper pharmacology and toxicology that I have read. It is a “gold mine” of information for molecular biologists, molecular geneticists, and biochemists who have an interest in this area. It provides up‐to‐date and in‐depth reviews of new research findings in copper biology that have relevance to a limited number of diseases for which research is still looking for answers, specifically Alzheimer's disease and ALS. The book is a nice example of the concept “From Bench to Bedside,” translating basic science bench research into applicable knowledge that can help clinicians' diagnosis and treat certain diseases.
Erica L. Liebelt, M.D., F.A.C.M.T.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and
Emergency Medicine
University of Alabama Birmingham
Birmingham Alabama, USA
E‐mail: [email protected]