Question

Cyclosporine is a/an
auto-immune diseases.
used to treat
A. protein
B. enzyme
C. immunosuppressive agent
D. anti-inflammatory agent

Answer 1

Cyclosporine is a/an _______ used to treat auto-immune diseases.

The correct answer is

C. Immunosuppressive agent.

Cyclosporine is one of the most widely used non steroidal immunosuppresent. It is used to treat auto immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis etc. It is also widely used in organ transplant of liver, kidney, heart as well as bone marrow transplant to prevent rejection of the transplanted tissue by the host immune system.

The following options are wrong because:

A. Protein.

Cyclosporine is a 11 amino-acid peptide, arranged cyclically. The difference between protein and peptide is that proteins are much larger and have comparatively more amino acid residues, more than 50 amino acids atleast. Peptides are simply shorter polypeptide chains which are not folded into secondary and tertiary structure, unlike proteins.

B. Enzyme.

Enzymes are essentially biological catalysts which catalyzes biochemical reactions in our body. Enzymes are usually proteins that have extensive secondary and tertiary structures. Cyclosporine on the other hand is a cyclic peptide which interacts with cyclophilin and acts as an inhibitor to calcineruin, which is responsible for activating the transcription of a crucial cytokine signalling molecule IL-2, essential for activity of T cells. Thus, cyclosporine acts to inhibit the function of T cells, and not catalyze any biochemical reactions.

D. Anti-inflammatory agent.

Anti inflammatory agents are drugs which acts to reduce inflammation or swelling in body and are often used to remedy pain. Cyclosporine has no such functions, and hence it is not an anti-inflammatory agent.