Science Mini-Passage Drill Passage #1 Question #3

[LSAT99.9]

Hello,

For this question, why couldn't E be the correct answer? In the passage it states that "and since pDC's are responsible ... The level of these cytokines does not substantially decrease with treatment and symptoms quickly relapse." Why couldn't this be taken as explaining why the therapy fails to provide lasting relief?

Thank you.

[Nikki Siclunov]

Hi LSAT99.9,

Thanks for your question!

You are correct in that pDCs are the reason why glucocorticoid therapy fails to provide lasting relief. The author calls them the "main culprit" for this failure, elaborating on that point later in the passage. However, the question stem references a slightly different idea: why does the author mention the specific fact that pDCs are responsible for producing the key cytokines involved in SLE pathogenesis? This is not the reason why therapy fails: if pDCs produce the key cytokines in SLE pathogenesis, we'd expect a therapy that targets pDCs to actually succeed. So, therapy fails in spite of the fact that pDCs produce the key cytokines involved in SLE pathogenesis, not because of it. Furthermore, while answer choice (E) captures the overall purpose of the second half of the second paragraph, answer choice (D) is more specific: the author mentions that pDCs are responsible for producing the key cytokines involved in SLE pathogenesis precisely because she wants to explain why pDC resistance to therapy interferes with our ability to treat SLE.

This is a very tough passage, so if you have any other questions—definitely don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks,