Aamc 7 bs#133

[dougkaye]

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Can someone explain why answers B is not as good as D? It seems like they are asking why not everyone w/ H. pylori develops cancer. I answered B. because they have robust immune systems. It is well known that the immune system can attack cancerous cells, and many cancer treatments are based on augmenting this aspect of the immune response. Just because someone is exposed to a potential cancer-causing agent doesn't mean that they'll get cancer. As the passage says, it's an increased risk. I don't see why a "robust" immune response is not a suitable answer (other than the fact that MCAT's authors deemed it so).

 

[Etorphine]

Can someone explain why answers B is not as good as D? It seems like they are asking why not everyone w/ H. pylori develops cancer. I answered B. because they have robust immune systems. It is well known that the immune system can attack cancerous cells, and many cancer treatments are based on augmenting this aspect of the immune response. Just because someone is exposed to a potential cancer-causing agent doesn't mean that they'll get cancer. As the passage says, it's an increased risk. I don't see why a "robust" immune response is not a suitable answer (other than the fact that MCAT's authors deemed it so).

Because if you choose B, and assume this to be true 100% of the time, then you're also making the assumption that every person that has ever had a H Pylori infection will get tumor cells. You are then assuming that some lucky people have strong enough immune systems that the tumors (that they already have) do not develop into full-blown cancer.

While this may be true some of the time (due to the mechanism you discussed), it is not true all of the time.