Bacterial Infection Close Encounters At The Host Pathogen Interface

Bacterial Infection: Close Encounters at the Host Pathogen Interface

When it comes to bacterial disease, we are living in a state of false security. Antibiotics have indeed brought unprecedented health benefits, protection from and cure of bacterial diseases during the past 50 years. But there are ominous signs that the fortress and the defenses built on antibiotics are crumbling. They are crum bling because we wittingly or unwittingly created selective con ditions for the emergence of superior pathogens that can no longer be controlled by antibiotics. There are numerous warnings. After a long period of eclipse tuberculosis has now emerged as a serious threat unchecked by antibiotic treatment. Recent years have seen reports of cholera epidemics, of anthrax infections, of serious problems with Salmonella and even with E. coli, just to name a few. Mankind is in a race with microbial invaders. The challenge is to anticipate and respond to developments that affect the precarious balance between man and microbe. This will re quire new knowledge and it will take time for an effective appli cation of that knowledge.

DNA Methylation and Cancer

This book is a comprehensive survey of new and exciting developments regarding the role of DNA methylation in human cancer. Issues related to the mutagenicity of 5-methylcytosine and the increase in the interaction of chemical and physical carcinogens with these residues is discussed. The book summarizes the modulation of viral gene expression and the silencing of tumor suppressor genes and illustrates mechanisms by which the methylation signal is translated into altered chromatin structure. The relationship between DNA methylation and genomic imprinting and cancer, and changes in CpG island methylation which occur in aging are discussed. Mouse model systems have played a key role in our dissection of the relationship between methylation and cancer, and these are also portrayed together with descriptions of new clinical trials in which methylation inhibitors are being used to treat leukemia, myeloid dysplastic syndromes and hemoglobinopathies.

Bacterial Infection