What Are Forssman Antibodies?

In the human body, antibodies are released to fight anything the body perceives as foreign. This can range from a splinter to cancer. The specific antibody that is released to fight an infection is directly related to the type of infection present in the body. Some of the antibodies are named for the person who first made the connection between the particular antibody and the infection it fights.

Antibodies and Antigens

• In order to understand the Forssman antibody, a simple explanation of antibodies and antigens is helpful. An antibody is a protein that is secreted by white blood cells in response to an antigen. An antigen is any substance that causes the body to produce antibodies. The antigen can be chemical, environmental or viral. The antibody's job is to attack the antigen and destroy it.

Dr. John Forssman

• Magnus John Karl August Forssman was a Swedish physician and professor of general pathology, bacteriology and public health at the University of Lund in Sweden. Born in 1868, he died in 1947 and is credited with discovering the protein called the Forssman antibody.

Forssman Antibody

• Forssman isolated a particular protein, sometimes also referred to as heterophile antibody, by studying which antibody was released in response to infectious mononucleosis (IM). IM is one of several possible illnesses resulting from the Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). EBV is a virus in the herpes family and can cause herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 and is also associated with Hodgkin's lymphoma and central nervous system lymphomas associated with HIV. However, the Forssman antibody is only present in patients who have IM.

Elusive Forssman Antibody

• IM presents with a sore throat, fever and swollen glands. An early blood test may not conclusively show the presence of the Forssman antibody, since the antibody may not appear in the blood work until the white blood cell count, the cells that help fight infection, becomes elevated enough for the antibody to be released. Additionally, when IM is present in children, the Fossman antibody may not appear at all. IM is treated by addressing the symptoms since there is no antiviral medication for IM. The absence of the Forssman antibody does not become problematic unless the physician is using the antibody's presence as part of a differential diagnosis, which is diagnosing an illness by determining what it is not. If additional blood work and other tests eventually reveal the Forssman antibody's presence, a definitive diagnosis of IM can be confirmed.