A Subset of Patients with Imbalances in Glucose Metabolism Are

Multiple Choice

A subset of patients with imbalances in glucose metabolism are found to have autoantibodies to the insulin receptor. These patients, as well as patients with myasthenia gravis, may be treated with a procedure known as plasmapheresis. During plasmapheresis for these disorders, blood is removed from the patient, and then separated into two fractions, one containing cells, and the other containing the plasma. The plasma is then treated to deplete it of antibodies, and then the cells plus the antibody-depleted plasma are returned to the patient. This cumbersome treatment may be necessary because, for these diseases:

A) The disease symptoms are an indirect effect of inflammation induced by the autoantibodies.
B) The disease symptoms are a direct effect of autoantibody binding to its target receptor on cells.
C) Treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs makes the disease symptoms worsen.
D) The depletion of antibodies from the patient's plasma also eliminates all the complement components.
E) The leukocytes in the blood are required to bind to antibody-coated target cells, so must be returned to the patient.