Characterizing causality in cancer.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31782731.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.53755 and PMC identifier 6884405.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Philosophers have explored the concept of causality for centuries. Here we argue that ideas about causality from philosophy can help scientists to better understand how cancerous tumors grow and spread in the body. After outlining six characteristics of causality that are relevant to cancer, we emphasize the importance of feedback loops and interactions between tumor-cell-intrinsic and tumor-cell-extrinsic factors for explaining the formation and dissemination of tumors.
Medical subject headings
- Neoplasms