patient with melanoma receives three types of therapy: surgery, radiation, and interferon. Which of these represents something the immune system uses against cancer as well?

Question

A.  Radiation -- a class of lymphocytes uses powerful electromagnetic radiation to attack "altered self" cells.
B.  Interferon -- TH cells and NK cells secrete interferon in response to tumor cells.
C.  Interferon -- NK cells insert interferon into the membranes of tumor cells, creating large pores that burst the cells.
D.  Interferon -- In complexes bound with MHC proteins, the interferons indicate the presence of altered tissue to B cells.

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?
 
Gather Content
What do you already know about the actions of the immune system? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
 
Reflect on Process
  Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
 

Answer 1

B.  Interferon -- TH cells and NK cells secrete interferon in response to tumor cells.

Clarify Question
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
        · This question is asking you to compare the action of the immune system to the action of chemotherapy.
What type of thinking is required?
        · Analyze level:
            o This question is asking you to identify key factors that qualify something as a function of the immune system or a function of chemotherapeutic action.
 
Gather Content
What do you already know about the actions of the immune system? What other information is related to the question?
        · Interferons are induced by innate defenses.
        · Two classes of interferons are known.
        · Type I interferon is produced when viral infections occur. They signal the infection to neighboring cells.
        · Type II interferon is produced by T cells and natural killer cells. They protect against infection and cancer.
        · Type II interferon helps to initiate the cellular response, which includes the stimulation of macrophages.

Choose Answer
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
        · As interesting as this sounds, lymphocytes do not possess electromagnetic radiation that can be used against other cells.
        · Interferon is not inserted into the cell membrane of tumor cells by KN cells, nor does it bind with MHC proteins.
        · Interferon is secreted by T cells and NK cells in response to the presence of tumor cells.
 
Reflect on Process
  Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
        · Analyze level:
            o Answering this question correctly depended not only on distinguishing between the actions of chemotherapeutic agents and the actions of the immune system, but on your ability to break down, or analyze, similar outcomes of the two. If you got an incorrect answer, did you remember that components of chemotherapy include interferon, or that interferon is secreted by T cells and natural killer cells in the immune system? Did you have trouble breaking down the characteristics of chemotherapy and immune function to determine the correct answer?