There is one class of anti-cancer drug that is fairly effect…
There is one class of anti-cancer drug that is fairly effective at slowing tumor growth. But, one of its side effects is that it kills cells that have CD4 molecules. Suppose that a cancer patient has been treated with this anti-cancer drug for several months; and she is then given a tuberculosis skin test at the end of her treatment with this anti-cancer drug. Let’s also suppose that this same cancer patient was exposed to and recovered from tuberculosis several years before she was diagnosed with cancer and started treatment with this anti-cancer drug. Note that she was exposed to (and recovered from) tuberculosis before she started using the anti-cancer drug. Given this sequence of events in the cancer patient’s health history, would you expect their tuberculosis skin test to give a positive result? Why or why not? Fully explain the reasoning behind your answer. To receive full credit, you must (1) demonstrate that you know all of the details of how the tuberculosis skin test (i.e. Type IV hypersensitivity) works that were discussed in lecture, and (2) you can relate that to the scenario described above.