A patient with a genetic defect has non-functional cytotoxic T-cells. Why does this immune deficiency increase the risk of virally-induced cancers more than bacterial infections?

💡 Explanation

Cytotoxic T-cells are crucial for recognizing and eliminating virally-infected cells that could become cancerous, because they identify viral antigens presented on cell surfaces, triggering apoptosis; therefore, without functional T-cells, virally-infected cells persist, increasing cancer risk, rather than only impacting bacterial infections, which are handled by other immune components.

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