Abstract
SINCE the discovery1 that the sera of patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) contain agglutinins for sheep red cells, there has been speculation about the stimulus for their production2,3. These agglutinins, now known as Paul-Bunnell (PB) antibodies, have a characteristic absorption pattern that distinguishes them from heterophilic antibodies of the Forssman type2,4, and are seemingly almost, if not entirely, specific for IM. The presence of classical PB antibodies in the sera of patients with diseases other than IM has been reported only rarely. In these cases, mostly malignant diseases of the blood or lymphoid organs, the usual postulated explanation has been a double diagnosis rather than a false positive PB antibody result, although there may also be an aetiological role for IM in respect of these neoplasms5,6.
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LOWENTHAL, R., McLAUCHLAN, S. & TYRRELL, D. Human Antigen for the Paul-Bunnell Antibody. Nature New Biology 244, 109–111 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio244109a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio244109a0
