Once a rarely used subset of medical treatments, protein therapeutics

Q1.

Para1 introduces about protien therapuetics. When its demand increased. What the problems involved in human protein therapuetic.
Para2 - solution to overcome the diadvantages of human extraction of protein. Advantages and disadvantages of transgenic animals protein therapeutics. Concluding that this could be the future prospect to meet the increasing demand for human protein.

Overall summary - Demand for human protein. How it can be met in a easy, cost effective and efficient ways.

A. There is a missing idea about human protein, in this title.
B. This is true for para2 summary, as it deals with the transgenic animal as replacment for human protein therapeutics.
C. Correct Both the paras are dealing with the synthesis of Human Proteins.
D. This is close. But the passage is concentrated more towards human protein therapeutics. This is very broad level title missing the details.
E. This is partially correct for para2.

Q2.
A. This is the advantage for bacteria and yeast.
B. Production purity is not discussed in the passage. Only ease of purification is discussed.
C. This is disadvantage.
D. The contrary is mentioned in the passage.
E. Correct this is mentioned in the passage. reference - last sentence of para1 - "they lack the appropriate post-translational modifications that are needed for efficacy in vivo."

Q3. I believe this question needs some outside knowledge to answer. (To understand what is a vivo)
A. This is not answered. We were told that output is small, reason is not discussed.
B. Correct This is mentioned in the last sentence - "they lack the appropriate post-translational modifications that are needed for efficacy in vivo."
C. This is not discussed in para2.
D. This comparision is not discussed.
E. This is not discussed.

Q4. For easier understanding, the question can be reframed as "Which of the following is supported by the passage ?"
A. This is mentioned in passage as a probable danger of extracting protein from human blood.
B. This is not discussed.
C. This is not supported. Infact the contrary to this, is the solution for the problems faced during human protein extraction.
D. Correct Supported by the opening sentence of the passage. "Once a rarely used subset of medical treatments, protein therapeutics have increased dramatically in number and frequency of use since the introduction of the first recombinant protein therapeutic–human insulin–25 years ago."
E. Same as B.

Q5.
Reference sentence from para2 - "An advantage of producing transgenic animals is it uses less than half the experimental animals than does pronuclear injection. Also, it is possible to specify the sex of offspring and thereby reduce the time taken to generate a flock. "

A. Can this be inferred form above ? No.
B. Correct Can be inferred from above sentence.
C. This is partially correct as nothing about tissue activators is mentioned in the passage.
D. This is out of scope.
E. Same as D.

Q6.
A. Correct This can be inferred from - "Human proteins, such as erythropoietin, granulocyte colony–stimulating factor and alpha-L-iduronidase, are in great demand for the treatment of a variety of diseases." and last sentence of the passage - "Notwithstanding these, the number of therapeutic proteins being developed by the biomedical industry is growing rapidly, and some scientists are predicting that demand for proteins will soon exceed their ability to supply them. Transgenic animals could provide an alternative source of therapeutic proteins to help meet these demands."
B. This is not mentioned.
C. The author is still not confident about this - based on last sentence of the passage "Transgenic animals could provide an alternative source of therapeutic proteins to help meet these demands"
D. The author says it is expensive, but not unnecessary. "Whereas some can be purified from blood, this is expensive "
E. This is extreme answer. This is not mentioned in the passage.

Q7.
Useful reference from passage - "Whereas some can be purified from blood, this is expensive and runs the risk of contamination by AIDS or hepatitis C. Proteins can be produced in human cell culture but costs are very high and output small."

A. This is not weakening the above statement. As pure forms is irrelevant.
B. Correct In the previous sentence, the author mentions that the demand is more, which means supply has to be more. As per this when more output is required, costs can be reduced and hence it weakens author's contention.
C. Irrelevant.
D. Same as C.
E. Devoid of contamination will weaken, but accuracy of replication does not.

1. Which of the following would best serve as an appropriate title for the given passage?

(A) Transgenic animals and proteins
(B) Human proteins from transgenic animals
(C) Human protein harvesting
(D) Protein therapeutics
(E) Advantages and disadvantages of protein therapeutics

Correct Answer - C
Explanation - The 1st para talks about protein therapeutics and its increase in demand, and starts the discussion about the researchers tried to produce human proteins and the advantages and disadvantages they found.
The discussion about the development of human proteins (using transgenic animals) continues in the 2nd para, and again the disadvantages and advantages of the same are discussed. The best option for a suitable title of the passages is a tie between C & D, but C comes more close to the jist of the passage.
Options A,B,& E - are all mentioned in the passage, but contribute just to a part of the discussion of the passage, so incorrect.



2. According to the passage, what is one of the advantages of human proteins over proteins obtained from bacteria?

(A) They can be produced in much larger quantities.
(B) They can be produced in exceedingly pure forms.
(C) They can be produced at much higher costs than any other.
(D) They take the least amount of time to produce.
(E) They can be given the appropriate post-translational modifications.


Correct Answer - A
Explanation - as mentioned in the passage: "Much larger quantities can be produced in bacteria or yeast but the proteins produced can be difficult to purify and they lack the appropriate post-translational modifications that are needed for efficacy in vivo.", implying that A can be directly inferred from the passage.
Option B, E - incorrect, as per what's mentioned above and in the passage.
Option C, D - incorrect, not mentioned in the passage.



3. Which of the following questions does the passage answer?

(A) Why is the output of proteins from human cell cultures limited?
(B) Why are the proteins produced from bacteria unsuitable for use in treatments?
(C) How much usable protein is produced by a flock of transgenic animals?
(D) Why are animals better for transgenic production than sheep?
(E) What diseases can be cured from protein therapeutics and not by any other method?


Correct Answer - B
Explanation - only option B can be answered as the answer is mentioned in the passage: "Much larger quantities can be produced in bacteria or yeast but the proteins produced can be difficult to purify and they lack the appropriate post-translational modifications that are needed for efficacy in vivo."
Options A,C,D,E are incorrect, as they are not discussed in the passage.



4. According to the passage, all of the following is unsupported about protein therapeutics, EXCEPT that they

(A) can be used to treat AIDS and Hepatitis C.
(B) cure diabetes in humans.
(C) cannot be produced in transgenic animals.
(D) are used to create human insulin.
(E) treat undefined conditions.


Correct Answer - D,
Explanation - B & D are close, but since B cannot be directly inferred from the passage,I am going to go with D, as mentioned in the start of the passage: "Once a rarely used subset of medical treatments, protein therapeutics have increased dramatically in number and frequency of use since the introduction of the first recombinant protein therapeutic–human insulin–25 years ago".
Options A,B,C,E are incorrect, as they are not mentioned in the passage, or the opposite of the same is mentioned.




5. According to the passage, which of the following can be said about animals produced by pronuclear injection?

(A) It takes twice the time to produce a pronuclear flock.
(B) It isn’t possible to predict their sex.
(C) More than double the number of transgenic animals is required to produce the same quantity of tissue activators.
(D) They make better test animals than do transgenic animals.
(E) Most animals cannot be produced with pronuclear injection but sheep can


Correct Answer - B,
Explanation - as mentioned in the passage: " An advantage of producing transgenic animals is it uses less than half the experimental animals than does pronuclear injection. Also, it is possible to specify the sex of offspring and thereby reduce the time taken to generate a flock.", implying that in the producing animals using pronuclear injection, sex of the offspring cannot be predicted.
Option A - incorrect,opposite is mentioned in the passage.
Option C,D,E - incorrect, not discussed in the passage.




6. According to the passage, with which of the following statements would the author most likely agree?

(A) Producing human proteins in transgenic animals can be an alternative source of treatment.
(B) Human proteins are the best possible way for future research in medicine.
(C) Human proteins from transgenic animals is the only way we can meet the demands of the medical industry.
(D) Harvesting human proteins from bacteria or blood is absolutely unnecessary and economically unfeasible.
(E) Protein therapeutics is the most important discovery of the previous century in medical research.


Correct Answer - A,
Explanation - as mentioned as the start of the 2nd para : "By contrast, human proteins that have appropriate post-translational modifications can be produced in the milk of transgenic sheep, goats and cattle." and at the end of the 2nd para : "Transgenic animals could provide an alternative source of therapeutic proteins to help meet these demands.", implies that author would mostly agree with option A.
Option B - incorrect, they are already in demand as mentioned in the 1st para, its just their alternate source of production is needed.
Option C - incorrect, is not the only way, but definitely an alternative.
Option D - incorrect, as its necessary, but has several disadvantages, as mentioned in the passage: "Much larger quantities can be produced in bacteria or yeast but the proteins produced can be difficult to purify and they lack the appropriate post-translational modifications that are needed for efficacy in vivo."
Option E - incorrect, not mentioned in the passage.




7. Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the author’s contention against proteins produced from human cell culture?

(A) Proteins from human cell culture are the purest possible forms.
(B) The bigger the output required, the lower the cost of human cell culturing.
(C) Human cell culture is not opposed, as is producing transgenic animals, by animal rights activists.
(D) Culturing human cells in a lab is possible with a minimum amount of equipment and takes half the time of producing transgenic animals.
(E) Proteins produced in human cell culture are devoid of contamination and very accurate in replication.


Correct Answer - E,
Explanation - this if true, would most weaken the author’s argument, as what author mentions in the passage: "Proteins can be produced in human cell culture but costs are very high and output small", and E would weaken it because even if the cost is high,
they are contamination free and since are very easy to replicate, the ouput can be easily increased.
Option A - could be, closest also, but doesnt weaken the argument much.
Option B - incorrect, as the opposite is the argument mentioned, so this cannot negate it.
Option C, D - incorrect, irrelevant to the argument.

Hi Sajjad,

I rejected option E in question 2 because in the last line of the first paragraph it is mentioned that "they lack the appropriate post-translational modifications", but that doesn't mean that "they can't be given appropriate post-translational modifications". The answer choice should mention that mentions "they don't lack the appropriate post-translational modifications ". Please help me understand this, I think that the option and sentence are a little vague here.

Thanks,
Parikshit

OAs are already revealed, No doubt perfect work by Gautam12121991 but it seems that you have posted your response after the OAs revealed. Correct me if i am wrong. bm2201 you have done a good job here. I will post RCs of 28 April shortly. Stay tuned.

Good Luck

Pls post the OEs for all answers

Hello from the GMAT Club VerbalBot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.