The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease

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Marc Pouliot, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, Canada

REVIEW

Dr. Polansky's book presents a theory by which viruses are held as causative agents of a number of chronic conditions including, obesity, cancer, apnea and autoimmune diseases, which appear otherwise unrelated.

Viruses use the infected cell's resources to their advantage. Energy and resources (for example, transcription factors) are diverted in order to transcribe and translate the virus's genes at the expense of the host. This has been known for a long time; however, Dr. Polansky goes one step further by suggesting that this diversion of cellular energy and resources causes a sufficient disequilibrium, responsible at least in part for the onset of a number of clinical chronic conditions.

Strong points:

First of all, I would like to congratulate the author for putting together such an impressive collection of data and most importantly, for being able to delineate functional links between distinct sets of data. This is a well-organized, highly rigorous presented theory. The concept of microcompetition will change our approach in the study of chronic diseases and will furthermore give scientists a higher level of understanding in biology. Presentation of this concept undoubtedly provides a new set of opportunities for attacking chronic diseases. The idea that viruses are the cause of chronic diseases is not new, but the evidence put forward in this work, the molecular observations, analyses
and conclusions certainly are. They lead the way to new approaches in chronic disease treatment.

In my opinion, this book could be of great use to fundamental researchers. Investigators of specific areas will find well-presented concepts which transform our way of thinking about chronic diseases, the implication of viruses in biology and health in general. This work will eventually also have an impact on medical research and drug discovery, although realistically not in the near future; these areas not being typical bearers of new ideas.

This is a very good theory, one that makes a lot of sense and one that helps a lot in terms of trying to identify possible causes for chronic diseases. Time will tell, but regardless of being proved right or wrong, this theory has the merit of changing our current way of thinking, and this is probably the greatest contribution a new theory can bring.

Personal suggestions:

The main idea put forward in this book is superb. In my opinion, this work might have served a higher number of people, for example students, if the concept of microcompetition had been presented in a more "casual" way. At times, I had the feeling of reading an extensive PhD thesis, with explanations and multiple references for almost every concept presented. While there is no doubt whatsoever that explanations are rigorous and well-documented, most of them were written in such a way that only the people who are already familiar with these concepts would understand. Usefulness of a book can sometimes be found in presenting a concept which initiated people understand and explaining that concept to the uninitiated. This book is more "from initiated to initiated." This is not to say that the structure of the book is not good, far from it; it is a superb piece of work, just less open to masses than it could have been.

I hope these short comments may be of use. In finishing, thank you for the opportunity of reading this book. It was a great (and sometimes challenging) experience, which helped in crystallizing some of the ideas I had about viruses and their possible role in biology.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Marc Pouliot received his PhD in Cellular & Molecular Biology from Laval University in 1994, then did his postdoctoral training at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (Australia, 1994-1996), Laval University Hospital (Canada, 1996-1997) and Brigham & Women's Hospital (Boston 1997-1999). He is currently an associate professor in the Centre de Recherche en Rhumatologie et Immunologie, affiliated with the Department of Anatomy-Physiology (Medicine), Laval University. In the past five years, Dr. Pouliot published 9 peer-reviewed papers, 29 abstracts and has given 13 presentations upon invitation.

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