Root-Bernstein R S
Department of Physiology, Michigan State University, East. Lansing 48824, USA.
Anticancer Res. 1999 Nov-Dec;19(6A):4915-8.
The essays on carcinogenesis in this volume tend to fall into groups according to the level of complexity at which the theories focus. Many investigators focus on events and processes involving genetic mutations. Others, however, identify events or processes at the chromosomal, cellular, tissue, or organsimal level as being of primary importance. While such different approaches to carcinogenesis may, at first, seem to be contradictory, they may be seen to be complementary in light of the general theory of hierarchical organization. Hierarchy theory, which is a development of general systems theory, describes the manner in which organized processes are formed by subunits that have unique properties of their own but which can acquire new properties through their interactions. Hierarchy theory suggests that carcinogenesis can only be understood as a set of interactions between organizational processes at every level from genetic to organismal.
本卷中关于致癌作用的文章往往根据理论所关注的复杂程度分为不同的类别。许多研究人员关注涉及基因突变的事件和过程。然而，其他研究人员则认为染色体、细胞、组织或机体水平上的事件或过程才是至关重要的。虽然这些关于致癌作用的不同研究方法乍一看可能相互矛盾，但从层次组织的一般理论来看，它们可能是互补的。层次理论是一般系统理论的发展，它描述了有组织的过程是如何由具有自身独特属性但又能通过相互作用获得新属性的亚单位形成的。层次理论表明，致癌作用只能被理解为从基因到机体各个层面的组织过程之间的一系列相互作用。
