Book Reviews

Chromatography: Methods and Protocols. Vol-ume 147, Methods in Molecular Biology. Edited byPascal Bailon, George K. Ehrlich, Wen-Jian Fung, andWolfgang Berthold. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. 2000.x + 230 pp. 15.5 × 23.5 cm. ISBN 0-89603-694-4. $79.50.

Since its conception over 32 years ago, affinity chro-matography has contributed to the successful purifica-tion, scavenging, catalysis, and analysis of countlessnumbers of proteins and other biological molecules. ThePubMed database (HYPERLINK http://www.ncbi.nlm-.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) lists nearly 32 000 referencesthat make use of the technique. The U.S. Patent andTrademark Office (HYPERLINK http://www.uspto.gov/)records almost 10 000 patents that mention affinitychromatography in their description or specificationsections. Amazon.com lists 34 books that have beenpublished on affinity methods, 22 of which are still inprint.

With such a crowded publication field, is another bookon affinity chromatography really needed? This bookfills a worthwhile niche with chapters covering majorapplications explicitly pertinent to cutting-edge lifescience research. It does not attempt to rehash theentire theory and all of the reactions involved incoupling ligands to affinity supports. Other books haveprovided ample resources on how to prepare these resinsand their properties. This book stands out from the packin that it addresses practical affinity application areasthat have potentially broad use in modern technology.

Beginning with a concise overview of affinity chro-matography that documents its wide scope and utility,the book follows with chapters focusing on weak affinitychromatography, fluidized bed separations, antibodyimmobilization and purification, immunoaffinity tech-niques, affinity partitioning, boronate affinity chroma-tography, dye-ligand separations, DNA chromatogra-phy, affinity removal of pyrogens, Western cross-blottechniques, analytical affinity perfusion chromatogra-

phy, and phage display technology. Each chapter in-cludes an introduction to the technology with literaturereferences, a materials section, and detailed methodson performing the technique. The methods are spatteredwith tips that only experts in their respective fields canprovide. A notes section at the end of each chapter givesadditional information not usually found in journalarticles. Chapters with particular usefulness to thebiotechnology industry include those on antibody puri-fication and immunoaffinity separations, fluidized bedchromatography, and phage display. The last two topicsare especially needed additions to books on affinitytechniques.

The book contains a total of 401 references extendingthrough 1999, located at the ends of the chapters. Somechapters are liberally backed by literature citations, butothers, such as Chapter 5 on the purification of mono-clonal antibodies and Chapter 16 on the Western cross-blot technique, contain only a few citations. The indexsection is adequate (10 pages of primary and nestedcitations), but it could have been made longer to renderthe book more user-friendly. Some terms that shouldhave been listed, such as “IgY” (mentioned on p 53) and“Fv” (found on p 32) were not listed. But these are minoromissions.

Overall, this latest book on affinity chromatographyis a worthwhile addition to the bookshelf. Its practicalmethods are certain to make it a frequently consultedreference in the laboratory.

Greg T. Hermanson

Manager, Technology DevelopmentBusiness Development Group

Pierce Chemical CompanyP.O. Box 117, 3747 North Meridian Road

Rockford, Illinois 61105

JM0003790

10.1021/jm0003790

4332 Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2000, Vol. 43, No. 22