Abstract
The book is the first of a series of publications from Wiley-Interscience aimed at highlighting technologies for the pharmaceutical industry. What Wiley hopes to achieve with these publications is a focus on important topics, from their implementation to current challenges associated with new and evolving technologies as they are developing to a useful stage for the industry. The series will emphasize application rather than theory from both the industrial and academic perspectives. The publisher promises two other volumes will be added to the series whose topics are in vitro–in vivo correlations and biomarkers. Additional volumes on other topics are being planned. Although the success of the series may not depend completely on the quality of the initial volume, it will certainly set the tone for subsequent volumes and ultimately the success of the series.
In less than half a century (one career-life), toxicology has evolved from being the antithesis of therapeutics and a subset of pharmacology into a discipline of its own, drawing from and giving to other established medical disciplines. Tool and techniques, whether developed within various medical disciplines or through the explosion of genomic science, have driven the evolution of toxicology. Computations in toxicology have evolved from statistical bickering about feed consumptions, weighing the surviving animals in a study, counting the dead ones, and increasing the precision of determining LD50 values. It appears that the publisher and editor recognize that it is appropriate to bring into focus, at least one aspect of the toxicological evolution: computational issues.
The book consists of 27 chapters grouped into five parts: Introduction to Toxicology Methods; Computational Methods; Applying Computers to Toxicology Assessment: Pharmaceutical; Applying Computers to Toxicology Assessment: Environmental; and New Technologies for Toxicology: Future and Regulatory Perspectives. Each chapter begins with an outline of its contents, containing a topical heading along with a chapter section number and page, making it easy for the reader to quickly locate an item of interest within a specific chapter. Although the number and depth of chapter topics can and do vary among the chapters, greater consistency could have been achieved in the level of detail contained in the individual chapter outlines.
Part I, Introduction to Toxicology Methods, contains five chapters, two of which (An Introduction to Toxicology and Its Methodologies and Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Modeling) could be considered a short course in toxicology for nontoxicologists. The other three chapter address in silico/in vivo correlations, receptor-mediated gene regulation, and toxicogenomics. Collectively, the first five chapters set the stage for the remainder of the book.
Part II, Computational Methods, contains three chapter dedicated to toxicoinformatics, computational approaches for assessing toxicity, and a foundation for quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR). The chapter laying the foundation for QSAR discussions later in the book deviates from the aim of the series to be practical because the mathematical foundation for QSAR is described, giving the chapter a theoretical image rather than an applications focus. The deviation, however, is justified because extensive reference to and use of QSAR appears in later chapters.
Part III, Applying Computers to Toxicology Assessment: Pharmaceutical, is the largest part of the book, containing 356 pages. There are two threads or themes knitting the 12 chapters together: QSAR and receptor theory. Each chapter lays a foundation for the pharmaceutical industry toxicologist to work closely with the pharmacologist who is developing either therapeutic targets or therapeutics for already identified targets. Part III is the centerpiece of the text and an adequate reason alone for acquiring the volume.
Part IV, Applying Computers to Toxicology Assessment: Environmental, contains valuable application information for the pharmaceutical industry toxicologist, who may be ignore the information based on the subtitle “Environmental.” Part IV contains 91 pages in four chapters; with selective trimming and refocusing of the text material and a cosmetic alteration of titles, the essence of the material could be incorporated into Part III. The pharmaceutical industry toxicologist should be cautious and not reject examining Part IV because of its subtitle.
The fifth and final part, Part V, New Technologies for Toxicology: Future and Regulatory Perspective, contains three chapters of 80 pages total. Part V is the weakest part of the book in quantity but not in quality. No one knows the future and it is hazardous to try to predict it. However, it is that very risk-taking that will make toxicological efforts in the pharmaceutical industry most efficient and cost-effective. The insight to seeing a developing technology, technique, or potential applications in fields outside toxicology but having the ability to be implemented in toxicology would set the book apart from virtually all other texts. Part V is an opportunity for the editor and publisher to make an excellent text into a distinguished one.
There are 25 color plates from 10 of the chapters. These plates are presented in the chapters as black and white versions. In comparing the color plates to the black and white versions, the editor made wise choices because the color plates are more effective in presenting the graphic material and eliminate ambiguities that are inherent in the black and white versions. However, some black and white figures do not have counterpart color plates and the reader is left to assume that there is no visual ambiguity in these figures. In most cases, but not all, the black and white figures for which there are color counterparts, the black and white figure legend indicates that a color plate is available.
The color plates for all of the chapters are grouped together and not located within the specific chapter to which they belong. This arrangement is cumbersome and distracting to the reader. Furthermore, the grouped color plates are located in the middle of the references for Chapter 15 without an indication as to their location in the Table of Contents. If the reader is interested in viewing a color plate while reading a chapter, he/she has to fan the pages of the book to locate the color plates and then determine which color plate is of interest. Were it not for the overall quality of the text, and specifically the value added with the color plates, it would be a serious deficit to the book. As it stands, it is an inconvenience for the reader. Presumably, the editor and publisher will find a more reader-friendly arrangement for the color plates in future editions.
Computational Toxicology brings together, in an organized and competent manner, the current state of quantitative experimental toxicology. The editor assembled approximately 70 contributors to the 27 chapters. The contributors were from industry, academia, and regulatory sectors, which gives the book valuable perspectives. It is a book not to be read and shelved. For those who acquire the volume, it will be a well-used resource not only for information but also for guidance in experimental programs. Nontoxicologists who are integral to the risk assessment process will also find the book a valuable resource, especially Part I, Introduction to Toxicological Methods. The multiple sections throughout the volume that address quantitative structure-activity relationships provide a common ground for dialog between the toxicologist and pharmacologist, both of whom have the same goal: bringing useful and effective drugs to market.