title: Specific relationships in neoplastic disease.
abstract: There is an interesting story about Louis Pasteur, told a René Dubos, which bears on a discussion of specific, causation-related relationships in human neoplastic disease as a primary focus of biomedical research. The conceptual/axiomatic way in which Pasteur thought about infectious disease remains entirely relevant to efficacious, operationally-relevant thought about neoplastic disease. Approaches to the comprehension and control of neoplastic disease will almost certainly require organization of thought and effort within larger causation-related frameworks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Research, Gundersen Medical Foundation Ltd., La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601.
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lower
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics