[Ontology-editors] disrupting host processes

[Alexander Diehl]

Jane,

A very prominent area of research in cancer biology currently is the 
regulation of immune responses to the tumor to favor its avoidance of 
direct immunological effects and favor its growth.  These are indeed the 
employment of "normal" regulatory processes in the immune system to 
favor particular types of immune response favorable to the tumor.  The 
regulation can be both positive and negative, or even more complex.

Similarly, viruses and bacterial have their own means of regulating 
immune responses to favor themselves.  Calling all these actions simply 
disruption hides the full molecular characterization of the mechanisms 
involved and missed the subtle nature of many of these effects.

I favor describing these effects in terms of regulation, both positive 
and negative, of normal GO processes whereever possible.

Thanks,

Alex


Midori Harris wrote:
> Good question ... I don't think disruption is necessarily negative 
> regulation. Overzealous positive regulation could also be pretty 
> disruptive! And I agree about disruption not even necessarily being 
> any sort of regulation.
>
> I wonder if we could use a cross-product that includes a generic 
> 'disruption' term -- could use one of those anonymous classes if we 
> don't want 'disruption' in GO otherwise ...
>
> ???
> m
>
> On Tue, 24 Feb 2009, Jane Lomax wrote:
>
>> Hello - so here's an interesting question...I'm adding some new PAMGO 
>> terms, one of which is 'disruption by symbiont of host system process'.
>>
>> We have a term under multicellular organism process 'system process'. 
>> I feel that we need to make a relationship between 'disruption by 
>> symbiont of host system process' and 'system process' - but what?
>>
>> Regulates - or perhaps negatively regulates - would seem the most 
>> likely, but is that really quite right? If it were, for example, a 
>> tumor causing the system disruption we wouldn't call that regulation 
>> would we?
>>
>> Jane
>>
>>
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-- 
Alexander D. Diehl, Ph.D.
Senior Scientific Curator
Mouse Genome Informatics
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, ME  04609

email:  adiehl at informatics.jax.org
work:  +1 (207) 288-6427
fax:  +1 (207) 288-6131