The existence of multiple sulfotransferases (SULTS) was first discovered in 1958. Since then, any attempts to create a comprehensive text dedicated to sulfation and sulfotransferases have been rare and, thanks to rapid advances in molecular biology and biochemistry, quickly outdated. However, those advances have permitted an accelerated understanding of human sulfotransferase activity and with it the creation of a growing database on sulfotransferases that, until now, has remained scattered in the literature.
Human Cytosolic Sulfotransferases serves an important function by the mere feat of culling the information from the literature to present an up-to-date summary of the field. Fortunately, the editors have gone a step further in providing us with a multidisciplinary overview of human sulfotransferases, covering not only basic biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, but also exploring current clinical uses involving pharmacology, enzymology, and environmental toxicology.
The book's thirteen chapters, written by some of the most renowned scientists in the field, address the huge diversity of topics that are impacted by sulfation. Included are discussions that move from general nomenclature and structure to molecular cloning of human cytosolic sulfotransferases, and sulfate conjugation in pharmocogenetics and pharmacogenomics. Entire chapters focus on sulfotransferases in the human fetus and neonate, sulfation of thyroid hormones, as well as estrogen sulfotransferases in breast cancer and the activation/inactivation of carcinogens and mutagens by human sulfotransferases.