A young man was brought to the hospital suffering an unknown disease. Unfortunately, the young patient did not make it. Upon examination of his liver cells it was determined that the liver cells were extremely unhealthy. In fact, it was determined that there was an accumulation of a protein (called Y) that was supposed to be secreted from the cell, in the ER. Very little if any of protein Y was secreted from the liver cells. The accumulation of protein Y in the ER had appeared to cause these cells to undergo apoptosis. What might you surmise about protein Y in the patient based on our discussions in class? Can you make a hypothesis for what you think is happening? How would you test that hypothesis? What would the results look like and how would you interpret those results?
