Philosophy of Immunology

Pradeu, Thomas

doi:10.1017/9781108616706

Cited by 45 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 288 publications

(303 reference statements)

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“…The capacity of the other tissues in the human body to restrain the aberrant growth of precancerous cells is an exciting feat of evolutionary biology. To develop, a cancer must overcome these diverse protective mechanisms, which generates a breakdown in multicellular cooperation (Aktipis & Nesse, 2013; Buss, 1987;Godfrey-Smith, 2009;Nunney, 2013;Pradeu, 2019).…”

Section: Why Don ' T We G E T More C An Cer?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of host environment in cancer evolution

Solary

Laplane

2020

Evolutionary Applications

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Somatic mutations in oncogene and tumor suppressor genes accumulate in healthy tissues throughout life and delineate clones with limited expansion. Lifestyle‐related toxic insults increase the size and number of these clones that participate to tissue aging. Their identification has blurred the boundaries between clonal expansion and malignant tumor and has drawn more attention to the role of the host environment in tumor emergence and progression. Local tissue factors such as disrupted cell interactions and stromal cell senescence combine with systemic and distant alterations to initiate the reiterative process of clonal expansion, multilayer intrinsic diversification and clonal selection that eventually characterize overt tumor evolution. In turn, tumors remodel their close and distant environments, establishing positive feedback loops that contribute to disease progression. Strategies emerge to preserve the tumor suppressive properties of healthy tissue landscapes and delay age‐induced changes that eventually lead to cancer.

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Section: Why Don ' T We G E T More C An Cer?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of host environment in cancer evolution

Solary

Laplane

2020

Evolutionary Applications

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“…Traditionally, the immunological conception of individuality assumed that the immunological system acted as a ‘barrier’ that determined the boundaries between the self and the non‐self, eliminating any possible intruders, and tolerating those elements that were parts of the self. However, more recently, the immunological view of individuality not only emphasizes the active role of the immune system in excluding intruders, and tolerating elements of the individual, but also in reinforcing the bonds between the components of the biological individual (Pradeu, 2019, 2020). According to the new view, the boundaries of the individual are less fixed, and are constantly being redefined by the action of the immunological system.…”

Section: The Problem Of Biological Individualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A part‐dependent account of biological individuality: why holobionts are individuals and ecosystems simultaneously

Suárez

Stencel

2020

Biological Reviews

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Given one conception of biological individuality (evolutionary, physiological, etc.), can a holobiont – that is the host + its symbiotic (mutualistic, commensalist and parasitic) microbiome – be simultaneously a biological individual and an ecological community? Herein, we support this possibility by arguing that the notion of biological individuality is part‐dependent. In our account, the individuality of a biological ensemble should not only be determined by the conception of biological individuality in use, but also by the biological characteristics of the part of the ensemble under investigation. In the specific case of holobionts, evaluations of their individuality should be made either host‐relative or microbe‐relative. We support the claim that biological individuality is part‐dependent by drawing upon recent empirical evidence regarding the physiology of hosts and microbes, and the recent characterization of the ‘demibiont’. Our account shows that contemporary disagreements about the individuality of the holobiont derive from an incorrect understanding of the ontology of biological individuality. We show that collaboration between philosophers and biologists can be very fruitful in attempts to solve some contemporary biological debates.

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“…A “self” conserved during sequences of differentiation that in humans developed from the first embryonic cell to the about “200 terminally differentiated cell types”? Interesting answers are suggested in different works dealing with the philosophy of biology or the “philosophy of cancer” (books by Pradeu, 2012 , 2019 ; Bertolaso, 2016 ; Laplane, 2016 ; Plutynski, 2018 , and others).…”

Section: Questions About Multicellularity and Cancermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Is the immune system the “glue” (Pradeu, 2012 , 2019 ) that holds together the cells and functions of the multicellular organisms we all are constituted of together until such cohesion/coherence is altered in cancer?…”

Section: Questions About Multicellularity and Cancermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In cancer, the body plan (in an extended sense, i.e., 3D anatomical shape and functional organ morphogenesis) is usually respected, but failure of control on differentiations (at the level of trees or inverted Waddington landscapes) gradually leads to incoherence in the cooperation tasks (improper division of work) between tissues and organs. Then the natural history of the disease leads to dissolution of the organism as a whole [de-unification of the individual, as Pradeu ( 2019 ) writes].…”

Section: What Is a Functional Multicellular Organism?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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