end if ever there were one ).
Our cell , the eukaryote cell , arose 2 billion years ago and remains an evolutionary mystery – “ the black hole in the heart of biology .” I wish my biology professors had explained the anatomy and function of a cell with such heartfelt astonishment about its parts as Mukherjee does . He describes the “ organized ” cell , the “ dividing ” cell , the “ tampered ” cell and the “ developing ” cell .
In the chapter “ Blood ” the author , a Harvard educated hematologist who is taking care of patients at Columbia University in New York , tells of his patients and puts their medical problems in historical and molecular biological contexts . Hemoglobin , named by Friedrich Huenefeld 1840 for the red “ glob ” in blood cells of earthworms , revealed its oxygen carrying function as late as 1880 . It took countless disasters to transfuse these lifesaving red cells until the Austrian scientist Karl Landsteiner described blood groups in 1900 and the first safe transfusion based on ABO compatibility occurred 1907 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York . Landsteiner received his Nobel prize in 1930 .
Platelets were first noted as late as 1881 . Their Italian discoverer Giulio Bizzozero also suspected their function in forming blood clots . Their crucial role , however , in the human epidemic of heart disease became more evident in the 1930s . The tale of aspirin ’ s almost-sabotaged development at Bayer and the anecdote of the general practitioner , Dr . Lawrence Craven , who treated 8,000 of his patients with acetylsalicylic acid ( ASA ) to prevent myocardial infarctions in the 1940s and 50s following his hunch after a nosebleed , is worth reading .
The white blood cells – “ guardian ” cells ” – were first seen by Gabriel Andral in Paris in 1840 .
Dr . Metchnikoff of the University of Odessa won the Nobel prize for describing macrophages battling germs in the 1880s . His own life seemed to have been a battle with depression and authorities , but his ingenious animal model , the semitransparent starfish , enabled
him to watch these blood cells move within the animal , what he called “ the drama unfolding within organisms .”
A very educational and exciting part of the book – creating a fascination which reminded me of my days in medical school – describes different cell lines running our lives mostly unnoticed until something goes wrong with them : the “ defending ” B-lymphocytes , the “ discerning ” T- lymphocyte , the “ tolerant ” T- regulatory cells , the “ contemplating ” neurons , the “ orchestrating ” endocrine cells , the “ renewing ” stem cells and the “ citizen ” cardiac cell .
Each of these chapters highlights examples of patients , their physicians and researchers in an impressively eloquent style . Complex concepts such as major histocompatibility complex / human leukocyte antigen ( MHC / HLA ) compatibility become clear and their practical implication obvious . To give an example , Mukherjee tells of the first bone marrow transplant in Seattle , when a 6-yearold “ dark haired , dark eyed girl with eyebrow skimming bangs ” suffering from aplastic anemia received the bone marrow of her identical twin sister in the 1960s . This first successful transplant led by Dr . Don Thomas gave rise to Fred Hutchinson ’ s lead in stem cell transplantation and the new and promising field of cellular therapy .
The last part of the book gives a brief outlook towards the frontiers , ethically and scientifically , of cellular therapies : gene therapies , Car-T cells , genetically engineered embryos and human cloning .
Siddharta Mukherjee , a musician himself and gifted writer explains the title The Song of the Cell at the end . The title refers to the interconnectedness of each body ’ s trillions of cells . Cells are humming to themselves and signaling to each other with their songs creating an enormously complex ecosystem . The book makes his point very well and is full of song itself . Let the music begin !
Dr . Kloecker is a Professor / Gratis Faculty at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and practices oncology with UofL Health . He is also the Director of the Hematology Oncology Fellowship program at the University of Louisville .
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