13158 IUPAC Gold Book - Forssman antigen 10.1351/goldbook.13158 13158 current 1 Glycolipid heterophile antigen (globopentosylceramide) expressed on cell surfaces during embryonic and adult life in rodents and other mammals, and found in many pathogens, but probably not in humans. Anti-Forssman antibodies directed against the terminal sugar moiety are commonly found in plasma and may be involved in Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS). Anti-Forssman antibodies reportedly disrupt tight junction formation, apical-basal polarization, and cell adhesion. heterophile antigen https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/13210 PAC, 2012, 84, 1113. 'IUPAC glossary of terms used in immunotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2012)' on page 1167 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-11-06-03) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13158/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13158/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/13158/plain Citation: 'Forssman antigen' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.13158 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-07-21T23:51:25+00:00