CAIE A Level Biology 9700 · Immunity

Immunity: explain question

Explain5 marksStandard

A patient with kidney failure receives a kidney transplant from an unrelated donor. Despite careful tissue matching, the recipient's immune system eventually recognises the donated kidney as foreign and mounts an immune response.

Explain how the immune system distinguishes between self and non-self antigens, and describe the sequence of events that occur during the primary immune response against the transplanted kidney. In your answer, include the roles of macrophages, B-lymphocytes (including plasma cells), T-helper cells, and T-killer cells. Also explain how memory cells contribute to long-term immunity if a second transplant from the same donor were attempted later.

0 words · 5 marks

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How this question is marked

5 marks, so the mark scheme is looking for about 5 separate creditworthy points. Making the same point twice in different words earns it once.

Explain means: Give the reasons or the mechanism: why or how something happens. Link each point to the next with because, so or which means. A list of facts with no links usually loses the reasoning marks.

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