KUBY IMMUNOLOGY TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS
AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Chemokines - ✔✔A chemical secreted by blood vessel endothelium and monocytes
during an immune response to attract phagocytes to an area to both to clearing the
infection or damage and to amplifying the response.
✔✔IL-8 - ✔✔A chemokine produced in response to activation of cells at the site of
infection. Serves as a chemoattractant for neutrophils, recruiting them from the blood to
sites of infection.
✔✔Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) - ✔✔Catalyzes the step during the formation
of nitric oxide, which kills phagocytosed microbes.
✔✔Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) - ✔✔An enzyme that is key to converting the lipid
intermediate arachidonic acid to prostaglandins, potent pro-inflammatory mediators.
✔✔Main Cell Types that Carry Out Phagocytosis - ✔✔Monocytes in the blood and
macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in tissues.
✔✔NADPH Oxidase Enzyme Complex - ✔✔Activated when microbes bind to the
phagocytic receptors and produce reactive oxygen species.
✔✔Respiratory Burst - ✔✔Metabolic change accompanied by a transient increase in
oxygen consumption that occurs in neutrophils and macrophages when they have taken
up opsonized particles. It leads to the generation of toxic oxygen metabolites and other
anti-bacterial substances that attack the phagocytosed material.
✔✔Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD) - ✔✔Caused by defects in subunits of
NADPH oxidase that destroy its ability to generate oxidizing species resulting in
increased susceptibility to fungal and bacterial infections.
✔✔Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) - ✔✔Novel structures formed by activated
neutrophils that release filaments made up of chromatin that can disarm and kill bacteria
before they reach host cells, distinct from apoptosis and necrosis and depends on the
generation of reactive oxygen species by NADPH oxidase. Use granules and lysosome
to kill trapped bacteria.
✔✔Regulated Cell Death - ✔✔Cell death induced by PAMP-activated PRR signaling
pathways.
✔✔Extravasation - ✔✔Cell adhesion molecule interactions to adhere to vascular
endothelial cells in the inflamed region and pass through the walls of capillaries and into
the tissue spaces.
, ✔✔Sepsis - ✔✔A systemic response to infection that includes fever, elevated heartbeat
and breathing rate, low blood pressure, and compromised organ function due to
circulatory defects. Gram-negative's cell wall component LPS can be a major cause of
sepsis.
✔✔LPS Tolerance - ✔✔Macrophages inducing the production of inhibitors that block
themselves from responding to LPS, that reduces the possibility of septic shock
occurring from a bacterial infection.
✔✔Endocrine - ✔✔Cytokines that must pass through the bloodstream before reaching
their target.
✔✔Paracrine - ✔✔Cytokines that act on cells near the secreting cell, such that it merely
has to diffuse a few angstroms to a nearby cell.
✔✔Autocrine - ✔✔A cytokine that acts on the same cell that secreted it.
✔✔Pleiotropic - ✔✔A cytokine that induces different biological effects depending on the
nature of the target cells.
✔✔Redundant - ✔✔Two or more cytokines that mediate similar functions.
✔✔Cytokine Synergy - ✔✔When the combined effect of two cytokines on cellular
activity is greater than the additive effects of the individual cytokines.
✔✔Cascade Induction - ✔✔When the action of one cytokine on one target cell induces
that cell to produce one or more additional cytokines.
✔✔Interleukin 1 (IL-1) Family - ✔✔Typically secreted early in the immune response and
has systemic effect and signals the liver to produce other cytokines. Also serves as an
intermediary by helping to activate both T and B cells.
✔✔Class I Cytokines - ✔✔Largest family of cytokines, and members mediate effects
including proliferation, differentiation, and antibody secretion. This family shares a
common, four-helix bundle structure and the receptors are made of at least two chains.
Cytokine specificity is mediated by binding to the alpha chain and signaling is mediated
by one of the three alternative chains (γc, βc, or gp130).
✔✔X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (X-SCID) - ✔✔Results from a defect
in the γc chain which effects the generation of the adaptive immune response.
✔✔Type I Interferons - ✔✔Cytokines (interferons-α and -β) produced by virus-infected
cells, activated macrophages and dendritic cells that interfere with viral replication by
inducing the production of ribonucleases that destroy viral RNA and inhibit cellular
AND ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Chemokines - ✔✔A chemical secreted by blood vessel endothelium and monocytes
during an immune response to attract phagocytes to an area to both to clearing the
infection or damage and to amplifying the response.
✔✔IL-8 - ✔✔A chemokine produced in response to activation of cells at the site of
infection. Serves as a chemoattractant for neutrophils, recruiting them from the blood to
sites of infection.
✔✔Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) - ✔✔Catalyzes the step during the formation
of nitric oxide, which kills phagocytosed microbes.
✔✔Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) - ✔✔An enzyme that is key to converting the lipid
intermediate arachidonic acid to prostaglandins, potent pro-inflammatory mediators.
✔✔Main Cell Types that Carry Out Phagocytosis - ✔✔Monocytes in the blood and
macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells in tissues.
✔✔NADPH Oxidase Enzyme Complex - ✔✔Activated when microbes bind to the
phagocytic receptors and produce reactive oxygen species.
✔✔Respiratory Burst - ✔✔Metabolic change accompanied by a transient increase in
oxygen consumption that occurs in neutrophils and macrophages when they have taken
up opsonized particles. It leads to the generation of toxic oxygen metabolites and other
anti-bacterial substances that attack the phagocytosed material.
✔✔Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD) - ✔✔Caused by defects in subunits of
NADPH oxidase that destroy its ability to generate oxidizing species resulting in
increased susceptibility to fungal and bacterial infections.
✔✔Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) - ✔✔Novel structures formed by activated
neutrophils that release filaments made up of chromatin that can disarm and kill bacteria
before they reach host cells, distinct from apoptosis and necrosis and depends on the
generation of reactive oxygen species by NADPH oxidase. Use granules and lysosome
to kill trapped bacteria.
✔✔Regulated Cell Death - ✔✔Cell death induced by PAMP-activated PRR signaling
pathways.
✔✔Extravasation - ✔✔Cell adhesion molecule interactions to adhere to vascular
endothelial cells in the inflamed region and pass through the walls of capillaries and into
the tissue spaces.
, ✔✔Sepsis - ✔✔A systemic response to infection that includes fever, elevated heartbeat
and breathing rate, low blood pressure, and compromised organ function due to
circulatory defects. Gram-negative's cell wall component LPS can be a major cause of
sepsis.
✔✔LPS Tolerance - ✔✔Macrophages inducing the production of inhibitors that block
themselves from responding to LPS, that reduces the possibility of septic shock
occurring from a bacterial infection.
✔✔Endocrine - ✔✔Cytokines that must pass through the bloodstream before reaching
their target.
✔✔Paracrine - ✔✔Cytokines that act on cells near the secreting cell, such that it merely
has to diffuse a few angstroms to a nearby cell.
✔✔Autocrine - ✔✔A cytokine that acts on the same cell that secreted it.
✔✔Pleiotropic - ✔✔A cytokine that induces different biological effects depending on the
nature of the target cells.
✔✔Redundant - ✔✔Two or more cytokines that mediate similar functions.
✔✔Cytokine Synergy - ✔✔When the combined effect of two cytokines on cellular
activity is greater than the additive effects of the individual cytokines.
✔✔Cascade Induction - ✔✔When the action of one cytokine on one target cell induces
that cell to produce one or more additional cytokines.
✔✔Interleukin 1 (IL-1) Family - ✔✔Typically secreted early in the immune response and
has systemic effect and signals the liver to produce other cytokines. Also serves as an
intermediary by helping to activate both T and B cells.
✔✔Class I Cytokines - ✔✔Largest family of cytokines, and members mediate effects
including proliferation, differentiation, and antibody secretion. This family shares a
common, four-helix bundle structure and the receptors are made of at least two chains.
Cytokine specificity is mediated by binding to the alpha chain and signaling is mediated
by one of the three alternative chains (γc, βc, or gp130).
✔✔X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (X-SCID) - ✔✔Results from a defect
in the γc chain which effects the generation of the adaptive immune response.
✔✔Type I Interferons - ✔✔Cytokines (interferons-α and -β) produced by virus-infected
cells, activated macrophages and dendritic cells that interfere with viral replication by
inducing the production of ribonucleases that destroy viral RNA and inhibit cellular
