Abstract

Contemporary classification of human disease derives from observational correlation between pathological analysis and clinical syndromes. Characterizing disease in this way established a nosology that has served clinicians well to the current time, and depends on observational skills and simple laboratory tools to define the syndromic phenotype. Yet, this time-honored diagnostic strategy has significant shortcomings that reflect both a lack of sensitivity in identifying preclinical disease, and a lack of specificity in defining disease unequivocally. In this paper, we focus on the latter limitation, viewing it as a reflection both of the different clinical presentations of many diseases (variable phenotypic expression), and of the excessive reliance on Cartesian reductionism in establishing diagnoses. The purpose of this perspective is to provide a logical basis for a new approach to classifying human disease that uses conventional reductionism and incorporates the nonreductionist approach of systems biomedicine.

Notes

Originally published in Molecular Systems Biology 2007, 3:124. doi:10.1038/msb4100163

Keywords

genotype, complex networks, conventional reductionism

Subject Categories

Diseases, Phenotype, Pathology

Disciplines

Physics

Publisher

EMBO and Nature Publishing Group

Publication Date

7-2007

Rights Information

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Rights Holder

© 2007 EMBO and Nature Publishing Group


View Full Text

Click button above to open, or right-click to save.

Included in

Physics Commons

Share

COinS