AAMC FL1 B/B Question 1

[Penguin8]

The question is...
Based on the data presented in the passage, which statement best describes the HSP110ΔE9 allele?

• A.
  Cancer-promoting and dominant to HSP110WT
• B.
  Cancer-promoting and recessive to HSP110WT
• C.
  Cancer-suppressing and dominant to HSP110WT
• D.
  Cancer-suppressing and recessive to HSP110WT

The passage stated, "Researchers studying MSI in CRC cell lines and primary tumors observed that 100% of those analyzed contained deletions of 3 to 8 base pairs in the 17-thymine nucleotide microsatellite (T17) located in Intron 8 of the gene encoding heat shock protein 110 (HSP110)..." The larger deletions form "the mutant protein HSP110ΔE9. People with MSI CRC have HSP110ΔE9 transcripts in cancerous tissue only."

Later, Figure 1 shows that HSP110ΔE9 produces lower-volume tumors than HSP110WT.

These two points seem contradictory to me. The text makes it sound like HSP110ΔE9 is cancer-promoting, but the figure indicates that it's cancer-suppressing (or at least less cancer-promoting than the WT).
Is there something I'm missing?

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[Hopeful_Doc123]

Okay I felt the same way!! I still do not understand how cancerous tissue would be the only cells that express the mutation, yet it is tumor-suppressing, and the AAMC does not offer a great explanation. Let me know if you or anyone figures it out!

 

[Ad2b]

Probably be helpful to post a screen shot of the data presented ...

 

[smukke]

You need to post the entire passage but given what you've written I'd choose C or D based on what you've posted about Figure 1 (smaller tumors = suppresion).

I've found that often the passages are written in a way to lead people astray, the point of many of these questions is to make the least or smallest assumptions needed to answer the question and the passage you've posted does not answer the dominant vs recessive question (and is thus probably a distractor that you should ignore).