Unit 1 Question Bank
The five tabs are the five sections of the real paper. Items tagged
Past Paper 2019 or 2020 are the genuine questions, reproduced verbatim.
Items tagged Slide come from the TMU lecture; items tagged Janeway's are built
from the textbook to cover examinable ground. Nothing is invented. Janeway's 10e is a reflowed
edition with no printed page numbers, so it is cited by numbered section (§1-14), not by page.
0 / 26 answered
1Which of the following is the organ in which T cells and B cells originate?
Answer: A
Bone marrow. Both lineages originate from haematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. Read the verb carefully: T cells originate in bone marrow but mature in the thymus, so a question asking where T cells mature has a different answer. Spleen, MALT and lymph node are all peripheral organs — lymphocytes settle there as finished cells, they are not generated there.Past Papers 2019 & 2020, Section III Q1 — verbatim, both years
2Which of the following is NOT a peripheral (secondary) lymphoid organ?
Answer: B
Thymus. It is a central (primary) lymphoid organ, together with bone marrow — the sites where lymphocytes develop and mature. The peripheral organs, where mature lymphocytes settle and where responses are actually initiated, are the lymph nodes, spleen and MALT.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-14 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 81
3The thymus is the site of:
Answer: C
The thymus is where T lymphocytes differentiate and mature, and where central T-cell tolerance is established. B cells and NK cells mature in the bone marrow. The primary humoral response occurs in the spleen. Haematopoietic stem cells arise in bone marrow, not thymus.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 29
4Which feature belongs to innate immunity rather than adaptive immunity?
Answer: D
Innate immunity recognises broad molecular patterns shared by classes of microbe, using germline-encoded pattern-recognition receptors (PRR). TCR and BCR are the antigen receptors of adaptive immunity; memory and the requirement for prior antigen exposure are also adaptive properties.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-5 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 63
5Which is NOT one of the six features of adaptive immunity?
Answer: A
Adaptive immunity is characterised by non-reactivity to self — tolerance — which is the exact opposite of the stated option. Its failure produces autoimmune disease. The six features are specificity, diversity, memory, specialisation, self-limitation, and non-reactivity to self.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 51–61
6Cellular immunity provides defence principally against:
Answer: B
Antibody cannot reach a microbe hiding inside a host cell, so intracellular pathogens are the job of T-cell-mediated (cellular) immunity, which kills the infected cell or activates the phagocyte harbouring the organism. Extracellular bacteria and their toxins are handled by antibody — humoral immunity.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, ch.1 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 67
7Humoral immunity can be transferred to a naïve individual by:
Answer: C
Humoral immunity is carried by antibody, a soluble protein, so it transfers with the cell-free portion of blood — serum or plasma. Cellular immunity transfers only with living T lymphocytes, which is why that procedure is called adoptive transfer.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 72
8According to the clonal selection theory, each lymphocyte bears:
Answer: D
Burnet's central postulate is one lymphocyte, one specificity. The receptor repertoire is generated at random before any antigen is met; the antigen then selects the few cells that already fit it and drives them to divide. The antigen selects — it does not instruct or reshape anything.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-12 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 54
9Self-reactive lymphocytes are removed from the repertoire:
Answer: A
Because receptors are generated randomly, some will inevitably fit self. Those cells are deleted early in development, before clonal expansion, which is the origin of immunological tolerance. Janeway's: lymphocytes with receptors that bind ubiquitous self antigens are eliminated before they become fully mature.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-13
10Which pairing of immune function and its failure is correct?
Answer: B
Surveillance is the removal of mutant and malignant cells, so its failure permits tumours and persistent viral infection. Autoimmune disease is the failure of homeostasis (tolerance to self). Immunodeficiency and hypersensitivity are the two failure modes of defence.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 40, 80
11Passive immunity is best characterised as:
Answer: C
Passive immunity is given, not made — pre-formed antibody or lymphocytes transferred from an immunised donor. It protects immediately, but the recipient made none of it, so there is no memory and protection fades. Vaccination produces active immunity: slow to appear, but with memory and long duration.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 72
12Who first demonstrated that cowpox protects against smallpox?
Answer: D
Jenner showed in 1796 that inoculation with cowpox (vaccinia) protected against human smallpox — the origin of the word vaccine. Pasteur later developed live attenuated vaccines; Koch established that specific pathogens cause specific diseases; Metchnikoff discovered phagocytes.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 15–19
13The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1901) was awarded to von Behring for work on:
Answer: A
Von Behring and Kitasato showed in 1890 that serum from an immunised animal could protect a naïve one against diphtheria toxin — the first demonstration of humoral immunity and the first immunotherapy. Phagocytosis was Metchnikoff; clonal selection was Burnet (1957); complement was Bordet (1899).TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 20
14Approximately how many antigenic determinants can the mammalian lymphocyte repertoire discriminate?
Answer: B
This is the diversity feature of adaptive immunity. The repertoire is generated by random rearrangement of antigen-receptor gene segments, producing the capacity to distinguish somewhere between 10⁹ and 10¹¹ distinct determinants.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 57
15Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide in:
Answer: C
The WHO declared eradication in 1980, roughly 200 years after Jenner. It remains the first — and for humans still essentially the only — disease eliminated worldwide by a vaccination programme.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 16
1 Immunity — 3 marks+
The state of protection against disease, particularly infectious disease; more broadly, a reaction to foreign substances (antigens), including microbes and macromolecules such as proteins and polysaccharides. The molecules, cells and organs responsible constitute the immune system, and their collective, coordinated reaction is the immune response.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 9–10
2 Antigen (Ag) — 3 marks+
A foreign (non-self) substance that is recognised by the immune system and can induce an immune response, and that binds specifically to the product of that response — antibody or an antigen receptor. (Set as a Section I definition in 2019; developed fully in Unit 2.)Past Paper 2019, Section I Q1 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 38
3 Immune response — 3 marks+
The process by which the immune system recognises and removes “non-self” substances — the collective and coordinated reaction of immune organs, cells and molecules to a foreign substance. It comprises two categories: innate (non-adaptive) and adaptive (acquired) responses.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 9, 42
4 Innate immunity — 3 marks+
Immunity mediated by mechanisms that exist before infection, are capable of rapid response, and react in essentially the same way to repeated infections — that is, without memory. Recognition is by pattern-recognition receptors. Components: physical and chemical barriers, blood proteins (complement), cytokines, and phagocytes.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-2 to §1-5 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 44–49
5 Adaptive immunity — 3 marks+
Immunity stimulated by exposure to an infectious agent, which increases in magnitude and defensive capability with each successive exposure. Mediated mainly by lymphocytes and their products. Its six features are specificity, diversity, memory, specialisation, self-limitation and non-reactivity to self.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-8 onward · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 50
6 Clonal selection theory — 3 marks+
Burnet's 1957 theory that each lymphocyte bears a single type of receptor of unique specificity, generated before antigen is encountered; that antigen binding activates that lymphocyte; that its daughter cells carry identical specificity; and that self-reactive lymphocytes are deleted before maturity. Janeway's calls it the single most important principle in adaptive immunity.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-12 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 54
7 Immune surveillance — 3 marks+
The immune system's capacity to recognise and remove “non-self” components arising within the body — mutant, transformed and malignant cells. Its failure permits tumours and persistent viral infection. ⚠️ TMU / Chinese-curriculum framing; the term is not used in Janeway's ch.1.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 39–40
8 Active and passive immunity — 3 marks+
Active immunity is induced by exposure to antigen (infection or vaccination) — slow to develop, long lasting, and it establishes memory. Passive immunity is acquired by transferring serum or lymphocytes from an immunised individual (adoptive transfer) — immediate but short-lived, with no memory.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 72
1Cellular immunity is mediated by ? cell. Humoral immunity is mediated by ? cell.2 mark(s)
The most reliably repeated item on the paper — question 1 of Section II in both years, word for word. T for thymus (cellular); B for bone marrow, and B makes antibodies (humoral). Two free marks; the only way to lose them is to write them in the wrong order.
Past Papers 2019 & 2020, Section II Q1 — verbatim, both years2The functions of immune systems include ? , ? and ? .3 mark(s)
The 2019 paper gave immune defence and asked for two blanks; the 2020 paper asked for all three. Learn the set rather than the gap. Each has a matching disease on failure: defence → immunodeficiency or hypersensitivity; homeostasis → autoimmunity; surveillance → tumours.
Past Paper 2020, Section II Q2 (2019 gave 'immune defence')3Peripheral immune organs include ? , ? and ? .3 mark(s)
MALT is mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue — the lymphoid tissue of the gut, respiratory and urogenital tracts. In 2020 the paper supplied spleen and asked only for the other two. Do not write thymus or bone marrow: those are the central organs.
Past Paper 2019, Section II Q3 (2020 supplied 'spleen')4The two central (primary) immune organs are ? and ? .2 mark(s)
The counterpart to the peripheral-organ question above, and worth rehearsing in both directions since the examiner has asked the peripheral half twice. Janeway's: “The central lymphoid organs are the bone marrow and the thymus.”
Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-14 · TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 815Innate immunity recognises antigen using ? receptors, whereas adaptive immunity uses ? and ? .3 mark(s)
The recognition row of the innate-versus-adaptive comparison table, which is Section V question 1. PRRs are germline-encoded and read broad molecular patterns; TCR and BCR are generated by gene rearrangement and read individual epitopes.
TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 63 · Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-51Immune response includes innate and adaptive immune response.
TRUE
True. Slide 42 of the lecture states it directly: broadly, the different types of immune response fall into two categories, innate (non-adaptive) and adaptive (acquired). Appeared unchanged as Section IV question 4 in both years.Past Papers 2019 & 2020, Section IV Q4 — verbatim, both years
2Adaptive immunity can respond to a pathogen without any prior exposure to it.
FALSE
False. Adaptive immunity is acquired — it requires antigen exposure to be initiated, which is precisely why it takes 4–5 days to become effective on a first encounter. Innate immunity is the arm that works without prior exposure.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 63
3The thymus is a peripheral lymphoid organ.
FALSE
False. The thymus is a central (primary) lymphoid organ along with bone marrow. The peripheral organs are lymph node, spleen and MALT.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-14
4Immunological memory is a feature of innate immunity.
FALSE
False. Memory is a defining feature of adaptive immunity. Innate immunity reacts in essentially the same way to repeated infections — the hundredth exposure looks like the first.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slides 45, 58
5In the clonal selection theory, the antigen instructs the lymphocyte to build a matching receptor.
FALSE
False, and this is the whole point of the theory. The receptor exists before the antigen arrives, generated at random. The antigen selects the lymphocytes that already fit it and drives them to proliferate. Instructional theories were the rival hypothesis, and they lost.Janeway's Immunobiology 10e, §1-12
6Passive immunity provides immediate protection but establishes no immunological memory.
TRUE
True. Passive immunity transfers pre-formed antibody or lymphocytes, so protection begins at once — but the recipient's own immune system was never engaged, so nothing is remembered and protection wanes as the transferred material is cleared. This is why antitoxin is given in acute diphtheria and a vaccine is not.TMU Lecture 1 (Prof. Shan Yu Fung) Slide 72
1
Fill in the table to compare the characteristics of innate immunity and adaptive immunity. (Describe with “Yes”/“no” and “quick”/“slow”.)
6 marks
| Innate immunity | Adaptive immunity | |
|---|---|---|
| If need antigen | No | Yes |
| Response | Quick | Slow |
| Specific | No | Yes |
| Immune memory | No | Yes |
The instruction is explicit about the answer format — single words, not sentences. Write “no / quick / no / no” and “yes / slow / yes / yes” and the six marks are banked in under a minute. Padding it with prose gains nothing and costs time you need for Section V's later questions.
Marking guide: 1½ marks per row, or 0.75 per cell across 8 cells. Full marks require both columns of every row. Examiner expects the literal words asked for.
2
Fill in the table to compare cellular and humoral immune response.
6 marks
| Cellular (cell-mediated) | Humoral | |
|---|---|---|
| Mediated by | T lymphocytes | B lymphocytes and their antibodies |
| Effector | Effector T cells (CTL, Th) | Antibody in blood and secretions |
| Defends against | Intracellular microbes — viruses, bacteria inside phagocytes | Extracellular microbes and their toxins |
| Mechanism | Lyses infected cells; activates phagocytes harbouring microbes | Neutralises infectivity and toxin; targets microbes for elimination |
| Adoptive transfer by | T lymphocytes | Cell-free serum or plasma |
Marking guide: Roughly 1–1.5 marks per row. The two rows that carry most weight are mediated by (T vs B) and defends against (intracellular vs extracellular) — an answer missing either cannot reach full marks.
3
List the three functions of the immune system, giving for each its normal manifestation and the disease that results when it fails.
6 marks
| Function | Normal manifestation | Abnormal manifestation |
|---|---|---|
| Immune defence | Resists invasion by pathogens; neutralises toxins | Hypersensitivity reactions; immunodeficiency diseases |
| Immune homeostasis | Recognises and clears injured, aged and dead cells; tolerance to self | Autoimmune disease |
| Immune surveillance | Recognises and removes mutant or malignant cells | Tumours; persistent viral infection |
Note that immune defence has two failure modes in opposite directions — too little gives immunodeficiency, too much gives hypersensitivity. Stating both is what separates a full answer from a partial one.
Marking guide: 2 marks per function: 1 for naming it with its normal role, 1 for the corresponding disease. Full marks on immune defence require both directions of failure.